RoboticA
by Aaron Theos
Summary: Badically a twist on Pokemon. Ash gets turned into an android, and that's all I'm telling you for now. PS. Violence, swearing, and mushy scenes (no, not THOSE kind... *rolls eyes*) are in this fic. Enjoy! XD


-=-=-=-CHAPTER 1  
  
*Narrator*  
  
  
  
There was a soft, gentle breeze that almost seemed to dance through the nearly forest-green leaves of the oak and maple trees that towered above two strolling Pokémon trainers. One of the trainers was 15, and had black, disheveled hair. A red and white cap sat upon his head. He had deep, hazel eyes that seemed to shine in the summer sunlight as the cool breezes wisped his blue jacket around. He wore light blue jeans, with a green backpack full of food and supplies on his back. A little yellow Pokémon sat on his shoulder; it was his ever-loyal Pikachu.  
  
Next to him, a girl of age 17 ambled, her light auburn hair glimmering almost in the same fashion as the boy's brown eyes did in the sunlight. Her hair was shoulder-length and stuck out ever so slightly forward on the sides of her chin. The girl wore a pale yellow shirt and suspenders that connected to a pair of shorts. She carried only a small, red knapsack with her Poké Balls within.  
  
They had just left Bronze Town, home of the finest blacksmiths and metal-related manufacturing plants in Kanto, Johto, and Sanario combined. The boy looked meditative and thoughtful as he pondered over an occurrence that had happened only a few short hours ago. "Hey, Misty…what do ya think that thing was-…that big Dragon thing that soared above Bronze Town?" He said finally, after a long pause. Misty looked excruciatingly annoyed as soon as the words had left the young lad's mouth. "That's the millionth time you've asked that in the last FIFTEEN MINUTES!!! I told you I DIDN'T KNOW!" She took this time to pull a mallet out of nowhere in particular and give the boy a rather hard smack upside the head with it. "Now stop asking that question, Ash!!!"  
  
"Ouch..." He lay on the dirt path, looking mangled from the blow he'd just taken. "I'm…shutting…up…now…" Pikachu glanced at his trainer and sweat- dropped anime style.  
  
Ash got to his feet and sulked behind Misty a little as they continued the stroll on Route 70.  
  
After about half an hour, Misty stopped for a quick little snack and resting time, while Ash took a walk over to the lake that was nearby to wash his face with the water from it. Pikachu followed and chewed on an apple to keep itself entertained. The water itself looked slightly murky, so Ash thought it best to just sit and gaze at the calm surface to recuperate his tired mind.  
  
He went into another pensive mood at doing this, so that his thoughts soon wandered aimlessly back to the strange Steel-like Pokémon that had flown over the city. It had looked so graceful…yet powerful. Ash couldn't really be sure if it was a Pokémon that had already been discovered, and he was beginning to wish Tracey had been there to sketch it. Glancing down into the cloudy water, Ash sighed. What was that thing? He pondered. It looked like some type of dragon…He redirected the thought through his mind. A picture of Charizard entered the trainer's head as if it were a suggestion to him… No…it was too big to be a Charizard…much less my own…  
  
The hairs on the back of Ash's neck suddenly became stiff and stood up on end. He could feel a certain alteration in the atmosphere…as if someone had shoved small electric wires into a pool where he might have been swimming just enough to make a static shock kind of tingle over his skin. Pikachu had the same sort of experience, apparently, as it dropped the apple core, got on all 4's, and raising its lightning bolt tail into the air, started growling and sparking.  
  
Ash looked up at the sky in alarm as he heard a loud thunderclap. Abruptly, without warning, the sky turned black as storm clouds coated it over in a blanket of darkness. Thunder broke the silence once again and heavy rain poured down in thrashing torrents.  
  
Ash got up from his little thinking spot, and then ran back to where Misty had been eating her snack and recovering from the long walk, the yellow electric mouse right at his heels. He practically choked on his own breath. She was gone! Her book bag was still there, and even a half eaten sandwich…Pikachu couldn't help but to hungrily eye the sandwich as his trainer anxiously looked for their companion.  
  
Misty was still nowhere to be seen. By now, Ash and Pikachu had become drenched by the pounding rains and were freezing from the harsh northern winds that blew at amazing speeds. Taking up his and Misty's backpacks, Ash ran for the shelter of a nearby cave "Pikapi!" Pikachu called after, trying to keep up. The black-haired trainer slid to a halt outside of the entrance because he could sense something was inside the cavern. The electric Pokémon narrowly avoided an abrupt stop of hitting his trainer's legs from behind.  
  
Something about that cave made the hairs on Ash's neck and arms stand on end just like the sudden storm had done...only now he was sure it was more of a threat. He peeked inside the cave's opening, tense from the electric spider legs that went up and down his spine and through his arms and legs.  
  
He jerked back and Pikachu cried out in fright simultaneously as a deafening roar shattered the dark sky and lightning tore down and hit a tree nearby. Ash gazed in fright at the split tree, which was immediately engulfed in flames, afterwards spreading swiftly to more trees. All too quickly a brushfire had blazed up.  
  
Ash's attention was torn right back to the cave…but the cave was gone. Well, it wasn't quite gone…there was just something rather immense in front of it. Ash, now feeling just about sick to the extent of wanting to heave whatever lunch he'd had at Bronze Town, was unable to take a step away from the object that made so much corruption. Another boisterous roar made his ears ring as if someone had smashed a pair of cymbals on either side of his head. Pikachu cringed from the sound waves that hit his own ears, which were much more acute than the human's.  
  
Glancing up, Ash was struck with total horror to find out that he was facing the massive creature that had soared over the Town not long before his trek with Misty and Pikachu. "Piiiiiiiiikaaaaa…." Pikachu whimpered, hiding behind its trainer.  
  
The monster was covered in thick, steel-like plates of armor that were rigid and shaped like scales. Jagged, dragon-like wings that reflected every flash of lightning were folded at its back. Claws that resembled daggers were set erect from its feet and forelegs. Blades ridged its back from the top of its head to the end of its tail, where a tail fin like blade that resembled a pair of shears tipped it off. Before he knew what was happening, Ash found himself gazing into the beast's deep, golden eyes as it lowered its head to level with his. Ash could clearly see that this thing could eat him in a single snap of the jaws.  
  
Ash's breathing practically jerked to a stop as his stomach lurched and his heart leapt into his throat. "You are to come with me." A deep, resounding voice echoed through Ash's mind. He figured it must have been the armored serpent itself. "You are the one I was sent for."  
  
At this, the dragon reached into the cave behind it and dragged out –to Ash's shock- Misty, who was tied up in some sort of rope and some plastic cord-like twine to the point that it had cut her skin on the wrists and ankles.  
  
The metal beast dropped her on the ground, not caring about her presence anymore than it cared for the tiny drops of rain that splattered on its massive body. She let out a pained moan. Ash tried to run over to help her, but the serpent grabbed him by the neck and snarled, "Come with me, now!" It spread its wings. "Ash!!" Misty called out weakly. Pikachu leapt up onto the dragon's armored back, trying to hold on for dear life.  
  
"Heeeeeelllp!!!!!!!" Ash cried as the demonic creature soared into the air. It tightened its grip on his neck. He could no longer holler, for now he had barely enough strength to breathe. "What the-..." he heard the dragon sputter. Ash glanced back. Misty was hanging onto its tail for her own dear life, trying not to hit the blades. She had apparently cut the twine on her legs with the dragon's tail-razor.  
  
Now she was cutting away at the binding on her wrists. What is she DOING??? He queried in his mind, wondering how the heck she'd gotten up onto the dragon in the first place, and second, why she had come along for the joyride through Heck.  
  
The dragon's grip on Ash's neck was tightened almost as he thought these startled words. The young trainer choked, for there was hardly any passage left for air to move through. He was even starting to fall into a delirium from the lack of oxygen that was reaching his brain. Misty had gotten all the way up onto the dragon's back without it apparently noticing that much. Using its blades, she cut the rope on her wrists finally as the giant beast flew with amazing speed towards an unknown destination.  
  
Suddenly, without warning, the Metallic Dragon landed hard. Misty was thrown forwards. The dragon gave her an unfriendly gaze. "How did you get this far while bound and injured?!" It dropped Ash on the ground, where he laid, near a critical point of health. Misty crawled towards him, not responding to the dragon's question, but the dragon caught her by the collar of her shirt. She yelped in surprise. "You will watch then." It said in its resonant voice. The dragon picked Ash up again, and walked into the shady building it had landed in front of.  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 2  
  
*Ash*  
  
  
  
I felt something dead cold against my skin...something that made my entire body tingle and my fingers twinge with the feeling. I stirred out of my subconscious state and partially opened my eyes. Almost as soon as I did, they stung a bit from the chill.  
  
Everything was a blur. I closed my eyes and then tried to open them again. This time I opened them all the way. I was suddenly scared out of my mind…I was submerged in some kind of light blue liquid. What is this stuff? I asked myself.  
  
A voice spoke to me. An oddly familiar voice… "It is a nearly frozen form of plasma." I gazed through the water-like substance and fixed my eyes upon two people…they looked about in their late teens; I couldn't be sure though. Besides them, two more of ages near the same. Behind all these people was an apparently elderly man.  
  
An elderly man wearing a white coat. A lab coat? Again the voice replied to my thoughts. "Yes. You are in a laboratory." How can you hear me?? I inquired.  
  
"Look at yourself, Ash. You're hooked up –in a way- to this machine. It works as a translator for us. Anything you think…we hear as sound waves."  
  
I glanced at my reflection in the glass. There were with suction- cup like attachments on the ends…the attachments were applied to my forehead. I was also suspended in the "plasma" or whatever the guy had called it. I strained to see through the liquid, hoping to get a better view of the people outside. Suddenly, a 6th person caught my eye. I could tell they had a ponytail…and red hair…was it…? Yes! It was! It was Misty!!! Misty! Misty can you hear me? Misty?!  
  
"She can hear you fine." The voice said, "but she can't help you. Not now."  
  
What does that mean? I asked, my heart once again leaping into my throat.  
  
"You are going to be part of our greatest experiment!" Another familiar voice said.  
  
But I had a feeling that I knew-…  
  
"Prepare for trouble!" …. Oh nooooo… I whined.  
  
"Hey!!!" Jessie cried. "Stop disrupting our motto!!!"  
  
Pardon me while I DO. I then altered my thoughts to sound like Jessie, James, and Meowth. – "Prepare for a snack!" "And don't come back!" "To protect the world from all bus stations!" "To fight all gerbils within our nations!" "To announce the lectures of truth and love", "to extend our teeth to the food above...."."Dumb!" "Dumber!" "Team Dumbbell blast off at the speed of a snail!" "Don't surrender now and throw us in jail!" "Meowth! That's show biz!"  
  
I heard a giggle from Misty after my declarative speech. I heard Butch growl. "Dat's just lame!" Meowth cut in. "Can we just get dis GOIN'? A'hm Tired-a waitin'!!!" "I agree." James said. Jessie nodded. Say what?  
  
Cassidy sneered. "Robotica phase one! Start up the machine!"  
  
A whirring sound inside the plasma tank in which I was suspended began and then started to increase. Misty tried to get out of the constraining ropes that held her in a chair.  
  
Suddenly, a number of black wires about as wide as drinking straws shot out of the top and bottom of the tank. Hey!!! – What the?!  
  
Abruptly, the wires suddenly tore into my skin.  
  
AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!  
  
The wires themselves split into many tiny ones that all wrapped around a part under my flesh. I couldn't scream physically, but I screamed in my mind as I could feel the small wires wrapping around my bones under my skin.  
  
The suction-cupped wires attacked to my head drilled in as soon as my arms and legs were wrapped up inside and out with the wiring. The pain was unbearable, but the cold liquid made me partially numb to exclude the full pain. Suddenly the water in the tank turned black. I heard Misty scream. "Say bye-bye to your Ashy Boy, Misty!" Jessie declared. Suddenly, there was a final tear of pain down my back as the wires took over my spinal cord. Then the liquid itself froze up into a solid case around me. Then everything was gone as I slipped out of consciousness.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 3  
  
*Ash*  
  
……………………………………………………………………………………  
  
*Data Base Registered. Set-up and Installation Complete.*  
  
*All files acknowledged.*  
  
*System-check completed…Moderations installed-  
  
·Energy Attacks 1-5 installed.  
  
·Speed 200 M/ph  
  
·Transformation 1 Installed.  
  
·Weapons Installed  
  
·Next Update After 003.00 Battles Won  
  
-Artificial Intelligence System Set Up successfully.*  
  
·Setup Section 1.5 ^ to 2.0K Upgraded successfully.  
  
Weaponry-………………In check.  
  
· Silicon Weaponry Annihilate Life Compulsion = SWALC  
  
Weapon Set and Moderated to 2.0.  
  
All systems are ready.  
  
All systems are go…  
  
Activation commencement in T- 10 seconds and counting.  
  
10…9…  
  
8…7…  
  
6…5…  
  
4…3…2…  
  
1…  
  
*System activated!!!*  
  
I slowly opened my eyes. Darkness. Why was there no light? Where was I?  
  
Cold. I didn't like the cold. I didn't like the confined space I was concealed inside. I shut my eyes again. What was I doing in the shadows and bitter cold like this? I once again let my eyes open. I had to get out…Out…Yes! That's where I needed to be. Something was telling me to leave this darkness…this cold… Waves of energy radiated from my body.  
  
I could hear a cracking noise. The blackness around me was ice. Yes, that was right. It was black ice. I powered up my energy discharge and the ice cracked and weakened. My body tensed. I suddenly tore out with a surge of energy waves that caused the ice to smash into hundreds of pieces of black glass. I landed on the floor of a massive white room. Large. Yes, it was large like a vast plain with walls, floors, and a ceiling. I gazed around. Something inside told me to find Team Rocket. I didn't have to look far. The quartet of humans stood, smiling. Why were they smiling? Was there something amusing about me or something near me?  
  
"Dauphin." One of the humans spoke my name. I gazed at the blonde Pokémon Trainer.  
  
"Yes?" I asked, my voice somehow different than what I remembered it to be. "You are now one of us, Dauphin. You are our newest member…you could even say our newest secret weapon…" She faded off for a short pause, gazing at what seemed to be nothing in particular.  
  
The rest of the ice that was on my body melted away, the black fluid trickling off my clothing and into a puddle at my feet. I waited for her to continue, if at all. She did. "We have a mission for you. It will be your first."  
  
Gazing at her, I asked, "Well, what is it, then?" The woman, whom I now identified as Cassidy of Team Rocket, grinned. "We have someone for you to-as we Rockets say- put out of her misery." Stepping to the side, Cassidy revealed a young red-haired girl who was bound in a chair. I knew her. Somehow, I wasn't sure how…But I knew her.  
  
The girl looked up at me. "Ash, don't listen to them! They only want to hurt you, Ash!!!" I didn't know what she was talking about, but something inside was nagging me… 'Don't hurt her…please…' It whined. I ignored both these comments.  
  
Jessie, the red-haired woman, spoke up. "Kill her slowly and painfully, Dauphin…she's given us so much trouble, we might as well make it up to her!" James-who stood by Jessie-sneered at the girl…Finally it registered; Misty was her name. Misty. Misty…I felt an evil smile creep onto my face.  
  
Misty…must die.  
  
Abruptly, a sharper tug at my mind kept me from going right over to her and sticking her a few times in the arms with my sword…sword? Ah yes, my sword…a sword hanging in a belt loop at my side.  
  
Suddenly a wave of electric energy took over me. I cried out in surprise. "Dauphin what the heck-…!?" Butch yelped. 'YOU WON'T HURT HER!!'  
  
The voice screamed. Suddenly a flood of images came into my mind. Misty and a black haired trainer walking along a route. A yellow Pokémon tagged along. It hit me full force.  
  
I wasn't Dauphin! I was Ash Ketchum! I was human- I realized the mind force had switched…now Dauphin was my split personality. And I still wasn't out of his control. I was dazed from what just happened. I had fought for my own perspective…I had it now… but Dauphin…he...now he had more control!!!  
  
My hand involuntarily went to my side and unsheathed the sword. I would have kicked myself if that would'a helped, but I was far from accomplishing half that much in this circumstance. Dauphin held the sword's blade at Misty's throat. I tried to make him put the sword away…it didn't work. "Go on Dauphin…do it." Cassidy ordered. I drew the sword back and swung it at Misty!!! 'NO!!!' I screamed silently. The sword jerked to a stop merely a centimeter from her neck. I fought the robot as hard as I could. Dauphin's…my…hand began to shake from the resistance.  
  
The sword dropped from my hand and clattered on the floor. Butch growled. "Dauphin, get a hold of yourself!!!" After that, he added a series of words that I won't repeat. I picked up the sword again. 'You won't win, Ash.' A voice in my head spoke to me. 'Want to bet?' I challenged. 'Yeah.' With that Dauphin stabbed the sword into Misty's right arm. She screamed in pain and blood flowed freely from the wound, some getting on my hands. Dauphin pulled the sword out, and blood dripped from the blade itself. 'NO!!!' I mentally cried. 'You won't win.' Dauphin told me again.  
  
Misty was choking and whimpering from the pain. I could feel Dauphin's giddiness and excitement from seeing her suffering and from hearing me scream in anguish as I watched helplessly in horror. 'YOU FREAKING-…' My voice didn't trail off…I just said something that I won't repeat right now. Dauphin's capricious laughter would have made me hurl if I controlled my body, but even with Dauphin in command, I could feel my stomach churning uneasily from the torturous treatment.  
  
Again he readied the double-edged katana as I fought powerlessly against his ultimate influence. Misty gazed up into my eyes-…or were they now Dauphin's...? I felt so sick…so sick…the hammering agony of not being able to help Misty or myself was just about the worst torture imaginable.  
  
"Ash…please…" she begged weakly. "Try-…try to fight it…come on…Ash you can do it…keep trying Ash…don't…give up..." She choked on the blood coming up through her throat with a hacking cough that made my spirit sink within me. Why couldn't I fight harder? What was holding back my rebellion against Dauphin? What could I do now…with no control left? Misty was losing strength…she was so close to giving up now. Darn it all, what was I going to do?  
  
I felt myself weakening too…the mental battle with Dauphin had left me winded and had done nothing in the way of gaining my freedom back. But there had to be a way to make him stop…HAD TO! I had perfect access to the internal structure of Dauphin…almost all programs and hardware…but it was blocked off by computer chips that disabled any of my attempts to break through.  
  
Putting the sword away, Dauphin approached Misty. I could feel a huge amount of hatred coming from the robot. Grabbing Misty, I-…he- threw Misty into a nearby wall, creating a loud crash as part of the wall buckled from the impact. He calmly strode over to her and once again caught her up in his death grip. I caught her pleading glance for just a spilt second. Another merciless slice-like movement of his arm sent Misty soaring into an opposing wall. Dauphin once again unsheathed and readied the katana blade, glaring icily at Misty as she lay on the ground, her wounds bleeding pretty heavily and cuts and bruises scattered over her skin. He raised the sword, ready to spear Misty through the neck. It was then I came up with a risky and painful, but possibly perfect plan to conquer Dauphin…at least temporarily.  
  
I halted him up just before the edge of the blade neared Misty's throat. I then caused recoil in his arm, sending the blade directly into his-...-my…lower chest.  
  
Dauphin let out a yell of anguish as the blade tore through one of the motherboards of his complex robotic system. It shut down part of the mental barrier. I sent an internal electric charge through Dauphin's system to weaken him even further. 'YOU LITTLE-… '  
  
I laughed at Dauphin and ignored the terrifying pain. "Dauphin, GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!!!" Cassidy screeched.  
  
"He'd love to, I'm sure!" I laughed, hearing my teasing voice for the first time in a long while. Butch choked. "What the hell!? Dauphin you let him get control!?!?"  
  
"I can't-…"  
  
I hit the internal system again with another harsh electric shock. I glanced over my shoulder. Misty was running out of strength…and time. I needed to get Team Rocket out of the way and get her to a hospital ASAP. I removed the katana from my chest and healed the skin only, leaving the internal structure damaged. I sheathed the blade in a scabbard –of sorts- at my side. I held my hands close together and electricity ran between them, forming a sphere of the energy.  
  
I then aimed at Team Rocket. "Hi ho, hi ho, it's through the roof you go…" I sang as a little frivolous farewell tune. With that I fired a beam of the electricity at Team Rocket, causing an explosion that sent them smashing through the ceiling and flying into the sky. Even the scientist was blown away from the assault. I used another internal shock to keep Dauphin weak.  
  
I walked over to Misty. She tried to move away a little, mainly because she was scared I was just playing a trick to get her on my good side then kill her…I knelt down beside her, noticing the detail that she was shivering from the utter chaos and destruction that had just come to pass.  
  
She tried not to look at me. I choked back a sob of pity that arose in my throat. I had done all this damage…not only to her, but also to myself. Dauphin was almost defeated, but if I pulled off a finishing blow, I'd be taking the hazard of killing myself as well. "God, Misty…I..." I tried to say more, but I couldn't get any more words out. She turned her head a little to glance at me. I loathed seeing the damage I had done…it made me feel nauseous and disgusted with myself to an inconceivable extent. I kept Dauphin under a painful submission; afraid he might try to take control again…  
  
That was something I couldn't allow to occur. Not now. Laying my hand on Misty's shoulder, I gazed into her aquatic blue-green eyes… my heart – or at least what I had for a heart – throbbing with pain for every beat. "Ash-…" Misty started, her voice barely audible. "Shh…" I whispered. "Don't talk…" I supported her up into a sitting position with my arm sustaining the middle section of her back, and then inserted my other arm under the knee joints of her legs. I gently lifted her up in this manner. She laid her head against my shoulder, exhausted. I started towards the laboratory's exit and headed for the nearest hospital, about a mile or two away in Chrome City.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 4  
  
*Ash*  
  
I finally reached the hospital and ran in, the medics seeing Misty and immediately preparing a stretcher to take her to the critical care unit and emergency room. I couldn't shake off the sickening feeling that made me want to heave up anything I had in my stomach… I sighed and once again wondered to the subject if I still even HAD a stomach now. That thought sort of made me sicker. I watched as the doctors whisked Misty away. I then slowly made my way to a bench and lay down on my back. I stared up at the ceiling, occasionally zapping Dauphin to keep him under control. Now that Dauphin was a bit more under compliance, I had to find a way to destroy him without killing myself in the process. Maybe I could just even shut him down…  
  
I let my mind drift around on various ideas, hoping for one to stand out for me. It wasn't working in the least bit. I heaved a deep sigh and shifted my wary gaze to the lobby clock. By now, half an hour had passed since I'd arrived with Misty. Dauphin was pretty wound up by this time, my control having dominated him for longer than he had presumed possible. Foolish, foolish, foolish… He muttered repeatedly-to himself, or me-I knew not. It was getting particularly vexing rather quickly. It hit me then.  
  
There was a databank path that extended into Dauphin's mission- related files. Those files were what made him not only evil, but made him attack and accomplish the damage he was intended to perform. If I could just access that segment of his database and eradicate those files… That would not only make him shut down, but would remove the aggressive attitude from him as well, should he recover in any case. I smirked. "Robotica, phase 1: delete!" I cheered under my breath, mocking off of Cassidy's high and mighty phrase.  
  
'NO!' Dauphin growled. 'Yes-s-s-s!!!' I hissed back. He muttered silently again.  
  
It didn't take much effort to slowly work my way through the numerous programmed barriers that Dauphin set up against my plan. I could easily decode them as soon as he crafted them. The last barrier was a pretty hard setup. It would turn right back on as soon as I chipped away a section of it. 'Ha-ha-ha.' Dauphin sneered. 'Thought you could out beat me, even when I was weak?' Argh. Those stupid bossy Team Rocket androids… 'I heard that.' …Ugh.  
  
I gave Dauphin a good old-fashioned shock after a while, weakening him for a set time, smashing the final barrier and starting deletion havoc in his files.  
  
'Stop that you fool!!!' Yeah, right. 'AAARGH!' I grinned to myself again. 'Bye-bye Dauphin!' I started deleting the records, one by one. 'Whoosh! There goes Dauphin! Hehehehehehahahahaha!'  
  
That pretty well ticked him off. As a final blow, a last will and testament-of sorts- he left me with a rather painful shock that knocked me off the Hospital lobby bench. "YAAAHH!!" I yelped, drawing the attention of every person in the building that was in my peripheral vision, and probably moreover. "Is there something wrong?" a doctor asked inquisitively.  
  
"No…nothing…at all…" I piped up grinning pathetically in my own soundless merriment. "O…kay… then…." The physician replied hesitantly as I rose to my feet and sat back down on the bench, the ridiculous smirk still plastered to my face, as I could plainly see in a nearby window's mirror image of my own visage.  
  
I decided to query about Misty's condition. I stood and walked the five-yard distance to the front desk, my mind slowly escalating with a strange new level of anxiety I don't recollect having felt before. Maybe that was the robot's perception…perhaps I had felt that before…I really couldn't be certain in my present condition of perplexity. (Gotta love mah vocabulary!)  
  
"Yes?" one of the secretary-like people at the counter asked. "Um…I wanted to know how my friend Misty's doing…the red-haired girl I brought in earlier?"  
  
"Last name?" I blinked. "Hers or mine?" The woman looked cross. "Hers." She replied stiffly. "Oh. Crud…um…" I felt my face get hot. There you have it. She's my best friend and I don't even know her bloody last name. "Don't tell me. You have no idea." I meekly nodded after the question as a response. "Fine. I'll look up a 'Misty' and see what I can find." With that, she turned to the laptop beside her and typed in Misty's forename, then entered into some sort of mass directory program of sorts. About 30 different entries popped up that had the name "Misty" included. I let out an inaudible groan. Really woulda helped to have known her last name, huh? I chastised myself silently.  
  
"Give me her description again. That should help…" The woman spat out, trying to conceal her lack of patience. "Red hair, celadon eyes, light skin, anything else? Didn't think so. Look that up or I'll sing Britney Spears." It took all my willpower to keep from screaming and kicking myself through a wall. Why the heck did I just SAY THAT?! The woman gave me a startled momentary look, and then typed like lightning on the portable computer. Looks like she dun like BS, huh? I asked myself. Hiding a coy smile, I covered my mouth with the back of my hand, coughing as a disguise for my broken up laughter.  
  
"Here…we go…" The lady said, giving me a dubious glance. "Yeah?" I asked, leaning on partially crossed arms over the desk to see the computer screen.  
  
"She's going through some surgery and should be finished in about 5 hours… That is, if the whole procedure goes as planned." I gave her a weary stare. "And if it doesn't-…?" I asked, my voice dry and quiet now. "Well…she won't live through the operation…" the woman's voice faded. "What room is she being held in?" I pressed, my mental state becoming more disorderly and unsettled. "I can't tell you that." She replied, her voice stiffer than before. "You sure as hell can!" I shot back, setting my concentration on the computer. A flurry of sparks from the back signaled my accessing into the wiring and boards. The woman backed away, all the people at the front desk starting to give me distance. I entered into the patient list, searched up the Misty I intended to locate, scouted the room digit, and then prepared for my parade to the locality. (Kwehehe…big words, oh yeah!!)  
  
Giving the counter woman a hard glare, I turned and took a mad sprint down a whitewashed hallway that would lead me in the general direction of Misty's location. I could faintly hear her picking up a phone and calling for security. Oh goody, goody, goody… I thought sarcastically.  
  
I tore up a stairwell to the 4th floor. I could hear some muffled clanging and thudding of a team of pursuing security guards. I eluded a pair of the guards at the top of the stairs, kicking one down the rugged incline to keep him off my trail temporarily. The second gawked at the show of aggression, then took up chase once more, the formerly following guards from the primary level hindered by their fallen comrade.  
  
I slid across newly waxed floors into an elevator, (How convenient) which was on its way up to the level I had in my mental sights. Some cheesy elevator music highlighted the joyride up to the destination. I bolted out the doors as soon as they opened, nearly evading a tackle from one of the ambushing sentries. "Gee these cops get places pretty darn quick!" I said out loud to myself rather than my intention to merely think it.  
  
Tearing around a corner and nearly relieving a number of doctors from their labor of tending to patients, I regained control and was able to bolt a free and nearly empty hallway until I had to slow down near the surgery room where Misty was being held. It hit me then. Why had I bothered to lash out like that when I just could have snuck up here unnoticed? Even more odd, why had I even cared so much as to put either plan into action? I shook off the consideration and silently opened the door, where a small few of surgeons were at work on the injured red-haired girl.  
  
I nearly gasped in a good gallon's worth of air just due to the fact I'd never seen her so terribly hurt, and with the hospital clothing and sheet partially over her, I just about heaved at the same time, which would have been a terribly sickening mess, now wouldn't it have been? Don't even think about THAT. I scolded myself. Aiming at a window on the opposite wall, I fired a concentrated beam of sound waves that had the same low frequency some large Pokémon make that only their kind can understand, excluding machines built to translate such a resonance. The window exploded outward, distracting the doctors just long enough to knock three of the four unconscious with a single swing of my katana – (I only used the flat side of the blade, mind you) – And then threw the last out of the window. Well, that was nice of you. I silently chastised myself. Throw the guy and make him fall almost 20 stories. See if I care.  
  
After that punishment, I made my way over to the operating table, only giving Misty a quick glance before unhooking life support and whatever else was affixed to her. I subsequently stood next to her, knowing my time was short before the security found me here. I laid my hands on her arm, and closed my eyes, focusing hard…concentrating purely on her wounds. This better work, I grumbled in my mind.  
  
A short period of time passed, then I opened my eyes. All of Mist's injuries had faded away as if they'd never happened nor existed whatsoever. "Viola…" I muttered just as fast-paced footsteps became audible outside the door. "Shoot!" I hissed through my teeth. There was no way to go but out that shattered window. No bloody way otherwise. I picked Misty up off the bed and backed out the window just as the cops ran in. A plunge began mere milliseconds after my departure from the window frame.  
  
"Work, work, WORK!!!" I moaned, closing my eyes and now setting my concentration on levitating before hitting the ground and getting one MAJOR bruise. My momentum fell to nothing about 10 feet from the ground, from which I tore upwards at a pretty good speed for carrying the load that I had. I got up about 300 feet into the atmosphere, and decided an abandoned building or even Misty's home would be fitting. If I could even get there, anyways. I would just see what would work out until then.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 5  
  
*Ash*  
  
I reached a deserted old fire station and decided that it would be the best place to camp out until I had routed a nice path to Misty's home in Cerulean. Truth to tell, I'd never seen her home before, and I was actually interested in seeking out the location. Before I knew it, nighttime had befallen the both of us, and Misty had still not come to. I laid her on a small tarp of sorts, covering her with part of it so that the cool night air wouldn't bother her in her sub-consciousness. I decided to take a quick peek outside.  
  
Stepping up onto a still-sturdy balcony of the fire station's second floor, I peered up at the starry night sky. I allowed myself to take notice of how much brighter the stars were out here, away from the more developed section of the city. I heaved a tired sigh. I was surprised to feel tired. I mean gee, if I was a machine, I didn't need sleep, did I? After a brief thought over what I'd just stated, I came to a conclusion on this consideration. I had plainly missed the fact overall. I might have been a machine, but all machines need energy to run. And without a cord or battery, I had to recharge my energy core, which was worn out from the long and grueling day.  
  
I was about to head downstairs when I actually heard some disorientated moaning from below. I got a good hold on the fire pole and slid down, not seeming to enjoy the ride very thoroughly, given the fact the pole was ready to give out under my weight and come crashing down to destroy the building's support. I landed once again on solid ground and transferred my attention to Misty, who was partially in a sitting position. The crude tarp was still covering her lower body and legs, shielding her from the small gales that had arisen since I'd come here with her. She seemed not to take notice of me, but went through minor shivering convulsions – and even looked herself over – probably wondering if she'd died and come to this hellish place to spend her afterlife. I didn't feel like I could talk. My throat had become fatigued in a very short time after watching the red-haired trainer a little while.  
  
Wrapping the sheet about her, Misty finally turned her gaze on me. As soon as she did, she let out a weak and frightened cry and stumbled over herself trying to run. I took a quick sprint over to her and pulled her back from the creaky doors of the station. "Hey…gee what's up with you tonight?" I muttered, glancing at her questionably. She looked pale and didn't reply. I sighed. "You still don't think I'm entirely myself, do you?" She just closed her eyes, tears leaking out from the corners. I felt a wave of dismay roll over me. Here I had gotten Misty out of the Hospital and healed her, probably putting myself in the list of America's most wanted at the same time, then taken her all the way out in the boondocks just to be considered nothing but a mindless, heartless, cunning android. What was left of that was gone, though. I just didn't know how to prove it to her.  
  
"Would getting you your bike back help any?" I inquired hopelessly.  
  
No reply.  
  
I heaved another sigh and glanced out one of the devastated windows where numerous shrapnels of glass stood erect from the crosshair window frames. The stars seemed even more radiant as the sun's very last traces of dusk vanished and fell to the night's reign. I wondered if my life was yet going to be sane ever again. More or less, I had to grin and bear it…though I don't know how easy the "grin" portion of that expression would be, now that Misty seemed to hate me pretty well.  
  
The serenade of crickets and katydids along with an occasional howl of a Houndour echoed through the vast and seemingly empty night sky. I felt so alone now. I don't know why. I decided not to give up all for lost. Not yet, anyways.  
  
I felt a discreet smirk try to overtake my expression as I took note of a small Spinarak taking interest in Misty's new makeshift blanket. "Uh…hey Mist'…" I started. She opened her eyes and gave me a sad glance. "Um…I hate to be the bearer of bad news but...um..." She gave me an almost cute inquisitive look. I felt my face slightly warm up as I tried not to break out snickering and laughing. "There's…a…um…" I felt my voice squeak a bit, laughter fighting to show its annoyingly comical face to the world, or at least anything within hearing range. Misty looked a tad confused now.  
  
"Th-...-ere's…a…b-…-ug…on…y-…" I didn't get to finish, as Misty had finally taken notice of the arachnid-like Pokémon. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! GET IT AWAY!" She shrieked, ramming into me as a futile attempt of escaping the bug. I became ensnared in the sheeting as Misty hid behind me, half tangled in it as well, but more paranoid of the Spinarak than of being strangled like I was. I managed to get the cloth off my face.  
  
Suddenly a brown and yellow blur shot in through a window and hit the spider, knocking it out through the door. "PI!" A little voice cheered. Misty peeked out from behind me, and I weakly grinned, my amusement revived. This time I didn't bother to resist it. Falling over in a fit of laughter, I nearly rolled and crashed into the wall. "YOU!" Misty muttered, whipping that all-powerful mallet from out of nowhere and giving me the what-for upside the head. "Ow..." I groaned, holding the side of my face. "Pikapi…" I turned my gaze to Pikachu. It smiled and ran to me, leaping into my arms. "Pikapi!" it repeated happily. "Hey! I thought they took you at the lab, Pikachu…" I said, partly confused with the fact of seeing my Pokémon again.  
  
"Chu. Pipipi Chu pikapi ka-CHUUU pipika!!! Pikachu pi!" I nodded. "What'd it say?" Misty asked, giving me another one of her now-famous questioning looks. "Pikachu said that he escaped TR before I blew up the lab and got you to the hospital."  
  
Pikachu then pointed to one of the Poké Balls clipped on my belt.  
  
I removed a capture ball off the buckle and laid it on the ground. Pikachu looked at me, and then glanced at Misty. "Pikapi ka-chu Pipipi pika...?" I shook my head slowly.  
  
"Pika." With a nod, Pikachu –to my utter shock- allowed himself to be engulfed with a flash of red light as he entered the second Poké Ball.  
  
I picked up the capture ball and clipped it back on my belt. I looked to my redhead comrade, who had fallen silent during and after my little translations. Misty smiled at me, her eyes welled up with tears. "You are yourself, aren't you?" she whispered. "I was the last time I checked." I replied with a grin. Grin and do something else. I coined the phrase silently. I felt my expression fault partly. I still had something to say to Misty, and I decided now was good enough time. "I'm sorry 'bout that *stunt* I pulled off earlier…I really tried to stop it…I just couldn't get Dauphin under control…" Misty nodded. "It's okay Ash…" She removed the part of the sheet that had intertwined my neck and wrapped the whole canvas- like material about her again. "How did you get Dauphin to…shut down...or whatever?" "I had to weaken him… then delete a bunch of files Team Rocket had in the database. Now I'm pretty sure he's in a permanent dormant state." Misty nodded in acknowledgement. "That's good. Now all I have is a dense android trainer for a friend." I felt my face burn a little. "Thanks. Thanks a whole stinking lot." I fell over on my side, muttering indistinctly. Misty quietly laughed and pulled me back upright. "What are we going to do now, anyways? The cops will be looking for you…maybe even the both of us."  
  
I shrugged my shoulders a little, and then looked back out the window. "Why would they want the both of us?" Misty looked thoughtful. "I don't know…maybe the whole feat of you taking me along for the ride tipped them off into thinking I have something to do with your rampage." I felt my face get hot once again. "Rampage indeed. All I did was run a few people over and fry a computer." I looked hard at her. "And exactly how did you know about my little 'rampage' anyways?" She weakly smiled. "I wasn't entirely unconscious once you jumped out of that window. I heard enough from the shouting from the people in the clinic." She leaned over to the side and picked up a small flyer. "I guess this is a hint too…" I took the paper from her and glanced it over. "My, my…quick today, aren't they…" The flyer was a wanted ad for me, myself, and I. "How the heck do they get this info so quick…" I cleared my throat. "Earlier today, Ash Ketchum, a 15-year old from Pallet Town, wreaked havoc in the Chrome City Downtown Hospital. Killing two doctors and leaving several injured, the rampaging teenager took off with one of the patients before guards could seize him. If you have any information on this criminal, please call the Police Station nearest to you…" I let my voice trail off. The rest I read to myself. Also, if you see the victim, Misty WaterFlower, (So, THAT'S her last name…) please contact a PD as well. Her description consists of light red hair, green eyes, and light skin. Last seen wearing either a hospital gown or a yellow shirt and shorts-suspenders. She is thought to have been part of Ketchum's uncultivated raid in the Hospital.  
  
"Well…?" Misty asked quietly. I sighed and gave her the paper. "They want us, dead or alive. I feel so special now." Thanks TONS, Team Rocket, I growled in my mind.  
  
"Don't wor-..." I cut her off by covering her mouth. She looked at me anxiously. Shh…I heard something outside… I told her telepathically. She silently nodded, my hand still cupped over her mouth. And true to my acute hearing, voices were barely audible outside the building. "I could swear I heard someone!" the first voice said. "That building's condemned. A mental case would know better than to go in there." I felt a little less protected at hearing that. I gently pulled Misty back towards the rear of the building, just out of sight of the police. I knew that wouldn't help. "Growlithe, do you smell that scent there?" "Graw…." A silenced sniffling sound was heard as the Puppy Pokémon inspected the doorway. It barked three times in reply to the second voice. "Oh, ho, ho! This scamp shouldn't be too hard to catch if he was smart enough to go in there!" The first voice chuckled to my absolute annoyance. One of the Poké Balls popped open, and Pikachu was at my side. I nodded to it. Pikachu, you make a distraction for us. When we're home free, I'll get you back to safety too, ok? I told it in the same manner that I had talked to Misty only a short time before. It nodded in return, and then readied itself. I picked Misty up and got ready for a dash out through the I entrance.  
  
"Now!" I whispered to Pikachu. The mouse tore forward, slamming the Growlithe at near point-blank range in the face. It let out a wounded yowl and crashed into the wall behind Misty and I. "Look! There he is!!!" One of the guards cried. "Crud." I groaned. The guards both cocked their .45's and aimed at my head. "Hold it right there!" I face faulted. "How about not?" At that indication, Pikachu leapt up and bit one of the guard's wrists. He cried out in agony. The second guard aimed for Pikachu. I dashed past the guards as the second fired, missing Pikachu entirely as it leapt onto my shoulder.  
  
Unfortunately for the first guard whom Pikachu had injured, the ammunition fire hit him instead, the bullet completely mutilating his hand off at the wrist. A bloodcurdling scream caught up with me as I ran as fast as I could, my robotically enhanced body making my getaway much easier due to my greatly extended endurance. (0.o' Wahoo…) I tracked down the fastest route to Cerulean and hoped they didn't have practically the whole damn Marine Corps there waiting to shoot me full of holes much like a slice of Alpine Swiss cheese. Hmm…that reminded me. I was hungry, too.  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 6  
  
*Ash*  
  
It wasn't long before I came to a pathetic stop at a moonlit seashore. This ocean –Cinnamill Sea- separated the world of Sanario from Kanto. It surrounded the well-known Seafoam Islands, along with Cinnabar Isle. Cinnabar had been destroyed by a volcanic eruption not long ago, exiling its inhabitants to the Seafoams or Fuchsia. Misty, now standing at my side, looked frustrated at the calm sea's surface. "How are we going to get across that?" Her flustered voice broke into the silenced night air. I remained unspoken for a while, looking for some sort of a buoyant device to traverse the placid waters with.  
  
After a while, finding nothing of employment for our needs, I decided on the next best thing. "Well," I started, glancing across the sea. "You are the one with all those Water-type Pokémon." I saw Misty's face take on a flushed tone. "You've got a point…" She quietly agreed, probably degraded by my proposal. I just shook my head in disbelief. "I can't believe you forgot about your own Pokémon team…" She shot me a sharp glance. "Ex-CUSE me, Mister Android, but I happen to know I'd have a lot more Pokémon than you if I hadn't joined you on your little Pokémon journey after you FRIED MY BIKE!!!" I cringed at that. "Well, sor-RY."  
  
Misty sighed and sent out a Lapras. I barely kept my jaw from dropping open and falling to the ground. "Where'd you get a Lapras?" She smiled at me coyly. "While we were at Bronze town, I traded my Togepi for her." I nearly laughed. "I wondered where that little bugger went…" Misty smiled innocently at my remark. "I could swear it was impossible to separate Togepi from you…" I added, feeling a little confused. "I'm a water trainer, Ashy boy," She giggled. "I don't train omelets!" I climbed on the dinosaur-like Lapras's back. "That makes sense…" I agreed, and then gave her another glare. "…And don't you start calling me that. You're acting like that Duplica twerp." Misty followed my lead and took her place up by Lapras's neck. I just lounged on the middle of its saddle-like shell.  
  
Lapras swam away from the Sanario shore, towards the shore near my hometown, Pallet. It would take a while, so I tipped my red and white cap down over my eyes and took a needed snooze for the ride's duration. It didn't seem that long, but when I slowly opened my eyes, I found it to be dawn. Sitting up, I took a good look around to try and pinpoint our location. Misty was asleep, her head resting on her knees while she dozed in a sitting position. Lapras kept up her slow and leisurely pace toward our concluding destination. I could tell the shore was near. A mist-shaded beach lay not far away- maybe only a distance of a mile or so in total. I decided to let Misty sleep until we'd reached the coast.  
  
During the last half hour between the location and landing, I planned a route from Pallet to Cerulean. I would leave at the north gate, head past Viridian, travel beside the woods via the Verde Rapids, then take a hop-skip-and-leap move over Mt. Moon and land in Cerulean. Sounded easy enough, sure. Now all I had to do was add in the Marines, the Army, the Air force, All the Officer Jennies within a 5,000,000-mile radius, and probably Team Rocket as well, back to claim their creation. I sighed. "Pras, praa-aa- as!" Lapras cooed as we reached the shoreline.  
  
"Ah, excellent!" I said, sliding off Lapras's back and wading the remaining distance to the deserted beach. Lapras poked Misty with her snout. "Pra-raaas!" Misty opened one eye. "Mrpph?" she mumbled, her face still embedded in her crossed arms. "Wake up, dear! All ashore who's goin' ashore!" I called to her in a somewhat sardonic tone of voice. She turned her head to gaze warily at me. "Good morning to you too, Ash-the-Bugle- Player." I just grinned at her. She stretched and climbed down into the shallow water, recalling Lapras. "Any time now, Misty." I teased. This resulted in a loud whack and a flash of black, red, and blue in front of my eyes. I keeled over. "Eerrrgh…" I groaned. "Enough taunting. Get up and let's go, Ash!"  
  
I stood with a bit of difficulty, dazed from the hit. Misty was relentless, and all too eager to avenge my sarcasm. She yanked me by the ear toward a shady forest section of the town. Releasing her grip, she scouted around, making sure no one was near. "Looks safe…" She said, starting out from the hiding place. I didn't think so. Grabbing her by the bottom hem of her shirt, I pulled her back down by me. "It isn't safe, Mist." I whispered in discouragement. "But there's no one there!" She countered. "That's what you think. Or rather, that's what you see." "Huh?" She blinked at me. I shook my head. "They've got a hologram up, Mist. It's made to look like the town with no one around. According to my radar, there are about 20 authorities, 10 bystanders, and a couple reporters." "How's that possible?" Misty asked. "What? The hologram or the amount of people?"  
  
"Both."  
  
I moved myself to a more comfortable position. "First of all, the hologram was meant to throw us off so that we'd come here thinking it was safe, then we'd walk right into the hologram, and probably get snared in the trap. Second. The cops are probably either investigating or guarding the city. The reporters are here because well, they're REPORTERS, and finally I guess bystanders are there because they like to stand by things- …"  
  
"Okay! Enough, Professor Ash!" Misty hissed, looking annoyed. I fell silent. "Now how are we going to get by these people…" She said, looking around helplessly. "A distraction would work." She shot me a dubious look.  
  
"Yeah, I'll get dressed up n a chicken outfit and run around in there screaming 'Eat more veggies! Eat more veggies!' then get shot in the head by a cop eating a donut!!!" "That would work too…" I sneered.  
  
Misty looked disbelievingly at me. "You WOULDN'T…" I quietly chuckled. "I didn't say I would! I just said that that would work too…" She sighed in relief. "Besides, I've got a better idea. Hologram versus hologram! Ding, ding!" "Huh?" Misty looked even more puzzled. I grumbled. "I'll create a distractive hologram of me and you to send in there and sidetrack them all while we sneak past towards Viridian." Misty nodded. "Sounds good to me. As long as I don't have to be a bird, I'm happy." I smiled and readied for the diversion.  
  
After only a few minutes, the copies were made, projected by mentally propelled brain waves that gave the appearance of Misty and I. "Whoosh! Let the fun begin!" I laughed. Misty looked at her clone with interest. "Are they just projections or are they real…?" She asked me while still gazing in awe at the mirage-like figure. "Just projections. I withheld on making a force field just to preserve my power levels. Gonna need all the energy I can get for the trip up ahead…" "Ah…" She said. " 'Kay…when I say to go, we run, sneak, or crawl outta here, got that?" "Got it." I sent the hologram clones in. Right after, I heard a lot of yelling and ammunition fire. "Okay, NOW!" I shouted over the clamor. I dashed for the front gates, Misty at my side and keeping up a marvelous pace with my own. Just as I'd premeditated, all and sundry were too far engaged with the fakes to even become aware of the escaping rogues.  
  
After only a few minutes, Misty was running out of breath and stamina. She had to stop and lean against a small boulder to convalesce. Unfortunately, I knew any sort of postponement would matter the most to our plan.  
  
I pointed this out to a panting and sweating Misty, who looked like she'd been through an army obstacle course 100 times nonstop. She muttered in response and closed her eyes as if to take a nap. I groaned. "Get up!" I said in a whiny voice. Misty tried to, of course, failing right afterwards and nearly collapsing if I hadn't caught her in the process.  
  
"Fine then…" I sighed reluctantly. I knelt down onto both knees, and then lifted Misty up onto my back with her arms draped down over my shoulders so I could hold her up with no chance of her slipping off and crashing on the ground. I didn't exactly prefer this way of bringing her along, but it was the best thing besides dragging her here and there, and I was sure she'd beat me around good for trying a stunt like that.  
  
Starting off again at a good speed, I finally came to a stop at the beginning of Verde Rapids, a stretch of forceful river that flowed down from west Pewter City to Pallet Bay. The rapids got their name from the strange light green coloring that tinted its waters. So much for the history lesson…now how to you ride the rapids facing the current? I gazed to my right and left, then finding nothing, got an even better idea…my hover board. It was basically a skateboard/hovercraft hybrid. Very useful.... Just where was it? I scanned my files and located it.  
  
"Oh…why didn't I look there?" I sweat dropped anime style and stepped out over the pounding waters. On my system command, a small raft-like flotation device spread out from the bottom of my shoes, and then detached, making a safe landing for me, plus the cargo on my back. I allowed Misty to slide off my back and then I sat her in front of me so I could keep her from falling off the propelled hover raft. "Hang on, 'kay?" Misty nodded, looking uneasily at the rough waters ahead.  
  
I geared the motor and the vehicle shot ahead at a surprising speed that startled me and frightened the living daylights out of Mist. I held the tiller on top of the motor to secure our course, and tried to keep Misty close by at the same time. "Fun, fun, fun…" I muttered, wiping strands of sopping wet hair away from my eyes with the back of my partially free hand. We hit the crest of a small wave, sending the raft soaring a few feet up. "AAAHH!" Misty screamed. She practically got pitched up into the air as the raft lunged above the wave. I grasped her by the waist just before what we like to call "physics" caught up with her and sent her flying like a stone from a slingshot. Another head-on collision with a wave loosened my grip on the rudder handle. An extremely short period of calm riding separated us from a sharp incline that flipped the raft, which I barely righted in time as we hit the elevated area of rushing water. Another speed surge from the raft left me flailing and partially hanging off the edge. Misty pulled me back up into the out-of-control craft. I grabbed onto the rudder and pulled it back, turning the raft left and then righted it, resetting the wedge to a near-straight path. A number more of these annoying confrontations with the thundering river hindered the ride for about three hours before we reached the headwaters. I climbed out onto shore and pulled Misty up onto the solid ground afterwards.  
  
I shrank the pesky vessel to its normal size and reattached it to the storage in my shoes. I looked back at the rapids. "Where are we now?" Misty questioned, gazing about indecisively. "We're in the wooded area in the west section of Pewter City. I thin-k that, if we head as far nor-th as possible, th-en turn east and wal-k, we should rea-ch Mt. Moon with-out being seen." I felt an odd prickling sensation running over my body as I managed to stutter some of the words. Misty looked at me. I could read a faint expression of confusion and worry in her face. "Wha-t…?" I asked, now feeling the static-like twitch prickling one of my eyebrows. "Y-…" Misty dropped off on the sentence and just looked dumbfounded.  
  
A small mechanical voice spoke in my mind. "Warning. Water infiltration has resulted in damages on memory board 1-A and computer boards 9-D through 15-X," I groaned in exasperation. "What's wrong, Ash?" Misty quietly asked, a shadow of concern still clouding her expression. "I don-'t thin-k I'm sup-posed to ge-t we-t…" I sputtered out with intervals of a sparking sound effect. The twinge was electricity that was leaking from my robotic system and absorbing into the water that had not only seeped into the system itself, but also still left me sopping wet from the raft ride. "Uh-oh…" Misty whined. "You're not going to blow up or anything- …" I shook my head. "No…I'm j-ust go-ing to have t-o wai-t unt-il I dry ou- t an-d hope I don'-t shor-t circ-uit in th-e process…" I could see some stray sparks flying off from the shimmering charge of electrical energy that produced a miniature aura around my body. Misty sighed. "I guess hugging you for not letting me get a free bath in the rapids is out of question, then…" I slightly grinned. "Oh, no-t that you w-ould, bu-t you coul-d…" "I'd rather not be asked if I'd like to be prepared 'Medium, rare, or well done?'" She replied, smiling at me even though I probably looked like a freak of nature with my wet, matted hair, dripping clothes, and sparking energy field. Of course, she wasn't exactly a movie star either…  
  
I wrung out part of my shirt and released a store of soaked up water hidden in the fabric. Misty just looked around the space of land we'd come upon at the closing of our aquatic cruise. "I don't recall seeing this part of Pewter before…" She stated quietly. "It's Pewt-er F-or-est…w-e're in th- e main c-lear-ing, whe-re the rap-id-s fl-ow direc-tly aw-ay from th-e sour- ce; a l-arge un-derg-round  
  
spr-ing." I replied. "And how come I didn't know that and you did?" Misty shot a glance at me after gazing towards the small lake from whence the torrents flowed. I merely shrugged. "Mus-t be som-eth-ing to d-o with my syst-em." Misty sighed and uttered, "That should have been obvious enough…" "I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-n-n-n-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-…" Shoot…the voice component jammed… I whacked myself in the head and righted the vocal program to proper working order. "IIIINDEEDY!" I blurted out with an unanticipated amount of enthusiasm.  
  
Misty let out a startled yelp, as if she'd expected me to explode at that instant.  
  
I had to keep myself from laughing at the misconception. "My bad." I alleged with an additional shrug. Misty appeared reassured by a great deal after knowing the outburst had no explosive effect. I blinked. "Tyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyesting one, two, threeeeee!" I grinned after the verbal test. "Hoorah! Huk'd on foniks work'd fer me!" I added subsequently. Misty just stared nervously at me, the apparently insane one out of the both of us. "What now?" I asked her in a provoked tone. "Nothing…" She replied hesitantly. "So, um, let's just…uh…go now?" I sweated. "Gooooooood idea," was my reply.  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 7  
  
*Ash*  
  
So began our hike to Cerulean City from the Pewter Woods. Our first objective: Get to Mount Moon. Our top priority: Don't get blasted full of gaping holes by the authorities. Fun, indeed. By this time, Misty had calmed down a slight bit, but she frequently glimpsed back and to the side quite often. I didn't quite care for rubbernecking myself into a pretzel over the matter of a few hundred armed cops. Yeah. Not really. I felt reasonably secure with my recently enhanced self to the point of near arrogance, although I wasn't really sure I could be considered "indestructible", with my limitation to water and all.  
  
Suddenly, there was a scream; a shrill, macabre scream that made me jump up what I thought was a good six hundred feet in the air, but in all probability wasn't even close to it. I spun around to see Misty, face dead white as a sheet drenched in bleach, shrieking at a stray Weedle that had come up to investigate the carrot-top trainer. Not agaaaaain… I whined silently. Misty whimpered and shuddered helplessly as the little brown bug gawked up at her with its beady black eyes. I sighed and held my palm out in the direction of the bug. It turned its head to watch me, and Misty's own gaze befell my simple action. I focused for a few seconds, and then a sharp intense series of sound waves erupted from the center of my palm and knocked the worm out of its senses into a state of total unconsciousness. I stopped the high pitch sound emission and lowered my arm. Misty 's face had gone white. I blinked twice. Misty's eyes rolled up and her legs buckled. I winced as she fell to the ground with a muffled but rather loud THUD.  
  
With yet another sigh I made my way over to her, kicked the Weedle aside and lifted her up into my arms and carried her to a nearby shady spot under the shadow of a towering oak tree. I laid her down on the grass and went to retrieve her knapsack. I brought the item back over to the chosen location and laid it down beside Misty. I turned and gazed at the clearing where the main path meandered through. There was a hollow silence in the air. Strange…why had I not taken notice of it beforehand? I suddenly felt the hairs on the back of my neck stiffen…  
  
My head suddenly began to ache, and then was over come as if someone were driving an ice pick through every square inch of it. I let out a cry and fell to my knees, clutching my head through the excruciating pain. At first, I saw nothing but a blurred perspective of everything around me, but then it faded away into a pure blackness. Then there was a voice. Hollow as the atmosphere had been. Empty.  
  
It won't be long…  
  
…U-…until wh-…what?  
  
Do you really want to know that?  
  
Y-… Another wave of pain tore through me…this time my entire body was overcome by the anguishing throbbing.  
  
You don't.  
  
Trust me. You don't.  
  
Then there was a final spasm of the sustaining pain. Not like the rest. Too much to comprehend without feeling it…even if you did; How would you know it had happened? Would I remember this pain many years from now?  
  
And then my name…chanted…over and over again. It sounded flat…bland… But I still heard it…it grew louder…louder…Ash… Ash… Ash… ASH…  
  
The darkness tore away like a curtain being ripped down from its supports. I screamed in pain and jerked up into a sitting position. My heart –artificial or authentically human- felt like a machine gun firing off at its normally rapid rate.  
  
"Ash!" I dazedly looked around. The voice…where…  
  
"Ash, what's wrong?" I cringed and then opened my eyes to meet Misty's.  
  
She looked panic-stricken. Pale. "Ash, are you all right?" I couldn't reply…couldn't talk…couldn't move… I just stared at her colorless face.  
  
And then everything went black.  
  
Except this was plain, simple, good old-fashioned unconsciousness.  
  
-=-=-=-=-=-=-  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 8  
  
*Ash*  
  
  
  
When I finally came to, I felt something damp on my brow. I tried to get a better perspective by practically driving my eyes up into my forehead, but of course the attempt was in vain. I used a second resort. A faint whirring sound indicated that a small, metal, craning wire had projected from the left side of my face, directly from my ear. I angled the mirror mechanically to catch a glimpse of a damp washcloth resting on my upper visage. I then re-angled the mirror to also get a glance at Misty, who was digging through her little backpack. I retracted the miniature mirror, removed the moist cloth, and sat up. I felt fine now. No pain or fear. What was that…? I asked myself. What is going to happen?  
  
I stood up and turned around to face a side path. It led behind a row of trees into a shallow crevice with a flat, narrow bottom. I dropped down an incline into the ravine. I looked up through the trees to the azure sky. What was wrong with me…? Who was it that contacted me? What wasn't long from now that I didn't know about? These questions occupied my mind until they ran a mental rut through my soul. "Ash?" I looked up to the ledge. "What is it?" I asked from my current location. "Where are youuuuuu?" She responded in a whiny tone of voice. I sighed and came to the sharp incline where I had dropped off. I crouched down a little, then allowed my legs to act in the same sense as a pair of coiled springs; This allowed me to launch up a good 20 feet in the air, after which I landed in front of a startled Misty. "Don't DO THAT!!!" She yelped. I managed a grin. "What did you expect me to do? Beg for mercy like a cripple and make you pull me up as if I were a defenseless little kid?" Misty's face clouded over. "Maybe that's what I WAS expecting from you, Ash…" I felt my neck get hot in shame. Of course…I wasn't defenseless now…but I would have done the act of what my foolish inquiry suggested before…before what I had become now.  
  
I closed my eyes and shied my head away. "That wasn't what I meant to say…" I then reopened my eyes and gazed sadly at the path stretched out before them. "But what do you expect from some artificially mutated 15-year-old jerk like me?" "Ash-…" Misty stopped short. I felt it again. The hollowness. And apparently it was affecting Misty now. I turned to her. "Wh-what is th-that?" She stammered. I felt a chill run through my body. "I…don't know…" I was almost surprised to hear my voice cloaked in a shaky tone. Where are you going? The echoing voice whispered. Why are you leaving? It softened. What has happened to you…Why are you like this now? I felt the strangest dizziness at that very moment. As if I had swum down nearly 300 feet in water, where in humans, a lack of straight thinking was the consequence of diving so far below. Ash… The chanting again. Ash…Ash…ASH…ASH…ASH…ASH… No pain this time. Just… a strange faintness that strongly distorted my thoughts. Misty stood beside me, whimpering pitifully as I looked around, everything blurred together from the strange mind- numbing effect. Suddenly I jerked back into reality. "Oh,-" I then muttered a word I shouldn't have. The robotic dragon that had kidnapped Misty and I and deposited us at the Team Rocket lab stood towering before us, armor gleaming, golden eyes glowing like fire. Steam spiraled out from its nostrils, and its claws showed fresh bloodstains. I stood beside the whimpering Misty, locking my own gaze with the beast's, who stared hard down at me. You must leave here… It said quietly. Now… I was mainly surprised the creature hadn't tried to eat us…but now it was telling us to run? Please, I don't have long…nor will you if you stay here. The Rockets are not finished with you, Ash. They will stop at nothing to either re- capture…or destroy you… The dragon hesitated. "Why are you telling us this?" I inquired at the intermission. I don't have time to explain. You must get going now! The dragon spread its magnificent wings and flapped them, causing a fierce wind to whip at Misty and I. "Wait!!!" I cried, trying to get the least bit more information out of the creature. I must go, and so must you… With those parting words, the dragon gave itself a heaving leap from the ground, spread and flapped, spread and flapped its mighty wings, until it left from sight above the trees. "I don't…think...I like…Team Rocket…any more…" Misty said in her soft whiny voice. I gave her a weak grin. "You should have realized that a long time ago, carrot head.  
  
A lo-o-o-o-o-ong time ago. She gave me an irritated glare as we went to gather our personal possessions. "Don't call me 'Carrot head', robot-boy." She muttered. "Don't call me 'robot-boy', carrot head." I replied sardonically. She picked up her knapsack, and then swung it as hard as she could, smacking me upside the head with it. "OOOW!" I yowled as I fell over and landed with a thud. She hung the knapsack off one shoulder and pointed to my own. "YOU are carrying THAT one, sir!" I grumbled inaudibly and got up, fetched the item, and took lead ahead of Misty, leaving the main path behind us as we still continued on to Mount Moon. In a couple of hours, we sighted the entrance of the cave from a sheltered section of the woods. Unfortunately, there were many Pokémon Trainers rambling about the area. I sighed. Only some kamikaze type of attack would render them unable to do anything while we- the two most-wanted renegades- slipped into the sheltering darkness of the cavern ahead. I believe I knew just the thing. I looked down at my pants belt, and to my surprise and dismay, I only found two Poké Balls, the rest apparently stolen by Team Rocket. I knew the one Poké Ball containing Pikachu now had a gold lightning bolt on the top…but the other was now metallic black on the top, silver on the bottom, and also now had a silver-colored vortex-like symbol on the top. I opened the Pokémon Ball to reveal a black and silver spotted egg. "What is that?" Misty whispered to me.  
  
I shrugged. "It's obviously some sort of Pokémon Egg…but I haven't got a clue what it is…" I replied, recalling the item. "You think it'll incubate in that Poké Ball?" Misty asked me curiously. I sent the egg back out and picked it up. It felt exceptionally cold. "Uh…I don't think so." I grinned pathetically. Misty rolled her eyes and looked like she wanted to bang her head against something. Something hard.  
  
"You wanna carry it?" I asked her, holding the egg to Misty. "You certainly did a fine job with Togepi before." Misty sighed. "It had better not BE a Togepi, otherwise I'll be having an omelet for breakfast soon." I grinned. "Ever HEAR of a black and silver Togepi?" She sighed and looked back out through the undergrowth at the trainers who stood around and walked about. "Okay…uh since I obviously don't have and Pokémon with poison moves…hm…" I muttered to myself. Misty smiled and then released her own Pokémon. She kept Lapras in her Poké Ball though. But anyways, out came a Starmie, a Golduck, a Poliwhirl, and a Remoraid. I (typical me) just blinked at the Pokémon selection before me. "Niiiiice…" I stated curiously. "None of them have poison moves though…" I sighed. "No…" Misty said with a smirk. "But they DO have psychic attacks…" She trailed off, looking at me expectantly. "…And?" I said pitifully. Misty gave me an irritated glare. "…And that means they know Hypnosis!!! Gosh, Ash, you might be a robot, but you're just as stupid as you were before!" I sweated. "And you're not helping…" I then muttered under my breath, "…Carrot-head." Another on of those telltale, sharp, and loud THWACK's was the result of my comment. "OWW…" I moaned as I lay on my back on the ground. "Shh!" Misty hissed. "Wh- …" She stopped me short again.  
  
Then I heard it. "What was that?" A faint voice was asking. "I don't know…I think it came from over there!" Misty growled under her breath at me. I grinned nervously. "All, right." Misty said, turning to her Pokémon. "Combine your Hypnosis attacks and put 'em out!" At command, the quartet of Water Pokémon aimed and then let off a torrent of brain waves that, as soon as they reached the oncoming trainers, did their jobs by putting every last person and Pokémon out of commission and into a deep sleep. To my surprise, I heard a mechanical voice in my head. Recording data… Hypnotic technique recorded! New method stored successfully. "What the heck?!" I hadn't ordered to record anything! Misty glanced at me. "What is it?" I shook my head. "If I had any idea, I'd be happier. My system just recorded that Hypnosis move…" Misty looked thoughtful as she looked at her Pokémon. "Wait a sec…let me try something." She recalled all Pokémon except for Remoraid. "Ok…Remoraid?" It blinked and looked up at her. "Use Ice Beam on that rock over there." She pointed to a small boulder placed beside a large maple tree. Remoraid nodded and opened its toothy mouth, then fired an aquamarine-colored beam of frost at the target, freezing it over with a thick covering of the rime that glimmered in the sun. Recording data… Ice technique recorded! New method stored successfully. "Well?" Misty asked, Remoraid recalled to its Poké Ball. "Yup…It recorded the attack again…" Misty shrugged. "I guess it's something Team Rocket threw into your system, perhaps?" "Mayb-…" I was cut off by a shrill scream. "IT'S HIM!!! OH MY GAWD IT'S HIM!!!" I spun around to see that one of the trainers who had either escaped the Hypnosis by being out of range, or waking up earlier than the rest. The young girl was waving her arms frantically and pointing at me, trying to wake up the nearest fellow trainer all at the same time. Misty groaned. "Mist' get Golduck out, NOW."I grumbled. She hesitated, probably baffled. "NOW." I repeated, still gazing at the panicking trainer. Misty sent out the blue duck. "Guull!" Still looking down at the girl, I commanded Golduck to use Amnesia. Which it did, amazingly. I would have thought it was only loyal to Misty. Oh well. The girl trainer blinked, temporarily brainwashed by the mental assault. Once again, I recorded the attack. "Perfect…" I grinned. Immediately after this, I held out my hand. I had to do this quickly before the girl's recent memory was recovered. I focused and re-acted the Hypnosis that my system had so conveniently stored into itself. The girl dazed out, and then sank to her knees, then side, as she fell into slumber. "I could get to liking this…" I said as I slid down the soil cliff to the firm ground below. Misty tried to follow in the same manner as I had, but she failed, managing to come sliding down headfirst rather than feet first. I sighed and helped her up. "Only for PROFESSIONALS, ok? Do not do that unless you know you CAN." I barely managed to evade a swinging blow of her knapsack, which she SHOULD have been caring for due to its precious cargo of black and silver egg. I reminded her of this and she merely muttered under her breath. I just shrugged and took lead as we headed for the cave entrance, new dangers awaiting us, the traveling duo of renegades.  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 9  
  
*Ash*  
  
  
  
As soon as we entered the cavern, I seemed to have no trouble whatsoever seeing in the dark. I guess naturally colored night vision was another on of the many perks of being mechanized. Usually night vision was a green color…I could see the cave as if dimmed lamps lighted it. Misty obviously couldn't see, for she was currently whining about being unable to find her way around without walking into something. I ordered a command to my system to set out another one of its many hidden gadgets- a pair of miniature flashlights that each deployed from and positioned themselves on either side of my head, parallel to my eyes, then turned on, casting extremely concentrated twin beams of light onto the path ahead. "Whoa…dang…bright…" I grumbled as I tried to both readjust my optical light intake and the intensity of the doppelganger minuscule floodlights. After fiddling with the devices for a short time, I had them at the desired level of luminosity. Misty stayed close, cowering from the darker corners of the cave and trying to stay nearest to the light source, occasionally bumping into me and scaring the living daylights out of herself in the process. Finally it got to the point that I once again had to hoist the jittery trainer on my back and give her a piggyback ride for the rest of the trip through the cavern. Being more than glad to be on my back rather than the floor - which occasionally allowed one or more bugs to crawl across its surface - Misty was near strangling me with her crossed arms that met around the front of my poor neck. I ignored the uncomfortable drawback for now, trying to keep the internal map of Mt. Moon in clear mental view.  
  
The amount of trainers in the gaping cavern was surprisingly small, probably due to the news reports and word getting out and about due to my little "rampage" or whatever else those crazy people want to name it. A stray Zubat flitted past, its wings making a silenced sound of rushing wind in short, rapid beats like a far away beating drum. This, of course, scared the crud out of my comrade, who subsequently managed to nearly fall off of her perch on my back. Everyone has his or her limits to patience I guess. I'd already gone past mine. "Will you STOP DOING THAT every TIME a bloody Pokémon goes BY?!" I growled at Misty. She let out a quieted whine, signaling both her submission to my hollering and her consistent fear of the cavernous surroundings. "It's not my fault I'm afraid of the dark…can't you let your Pikachu out and let it light the way, at least?" I sighed in response to the inquiry. "NO, I can't DO that, because then we'll be even MORE of a target to EVERYONE around us." Another whine. I muttered under my breath and continued on, Mist' still hanging onto my back, her arms wrapped around my neck. She was probably sore from being in the position for so long now, I was beginning to wonder how else I could transport her around with her consent.  
  
True to my earlier considerations, Misty began whining about how her arms ached. I sighed and let her down and she resumed her place directly by my side. To my complete satisfaction, I was more than content to find that we were approaching the exit of the cave.  
  
Misty's pace increased in speed as she began a bolt for the outlet. I smiled. For what reason, I'm not sure… But then I felt it. The hair on my arms and neck stiffened. There was something out there. "MISTY, NO!!!" I screamed. It was too late. A shrill cry met my ears as officials snared Misty up by the arms and handcuffed her hands behind her back. I stopped a number of yards from the natural doorway. Misty choked on sobs as she stared at the ground, a .45 handgun held evenly with her forehead. "ASH KETCHUM!" A low, growling voice called. The apparent commander of the officials stood in amongst his fellow workmates, glowering at me like a judge who hadn't had his usual cup of coffee before the trial began. "Yes ma'am? AH! I mean SIR." I corrected myself partly with a grin, but a firm expression simultaneously. This seemed to further agitate the gruff, aged man. "Listen you," He snarled. "We got a call from some trainers that you'd come in here." I swore silently. The officer continued. "Now if you cooperate with us, we'll let the girl go and press no charges on her. Understood?" "Uh-huh." I said nodding slowly.  
  
"Just come with us so we can deal with you, and the girl's released, ok?" Grumpy continued.  
  
I frowned. "And then what happens to me?" Another officer spoke up- "Like Boss said. We deal with you. Capice?" I suddenly felt a sharp tingle run down my back. A sneer appeared on the main officer's face. "Come on Dauphin. Cooperate with us, and your friend is released…" Boss…  
  
I felt my body tense up. This was no official holdup. This was a Team Rocket ambush! I felt a rage building inside me. Misty softly popped the question. "But what are you going to do to him?"  
  
Boss gave his evil sneer again. "Reprogram this piece of scrap metal junk to his former android self." I felt more rage. You want to kill more people, don't you? You want to shed more innocent blood… I swallowed hard, my gaze shifting from Boss to Misty and vice versa. "All you have to do is give the word, Dauphin…" I pursed my lips and exhaled nasally. "All right." I consented. "Have it your way…but release her first." I nodded my head towards Misty. "Ash, don't!" She cried. "Please!" I closed my eyes. Ignore it for now… I told myself. I slowly walked up to Boss. He smirked in his own self-pleasure. Misty backed away, muted sobbing being the only sound she could utter. "Oh, and by the way." I said, concealing my own grin. "Hum?" Boss inquired.  
  
"My name's Ash. Ash Ketchum." I felt a tingle as the irises in my eye shifted from hazel brown to liquid silver in color. "It's been nice knowing you, but I don't work with cheap shots like YOU!!!"  
  
Boss swore. "GET HIM!" The Rockets charged. My coiled legs released. I leapt into the air, the TR members colliding into one another with loud thudding sounds. I landed behind Misty. "On my back, NOW!" She didn't hesitate, already scrambling for her position as a piggyback rider. I focused. Come on…it worked before, WORK NOW!!! Suddenly I felt my stomach (and yes, I'll mention the fact that I wondered whether I even had a real one or not) plunge, as I was slingshot into the air, my cargo holding on for dear life. The Rockets once again missed their target. "SEE YAAAAAAAA!!!" I called down to the fumbling idiots below. Boss roared in anger. "I'll GET YOU YET, KETCHUM! YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!!!" His voice faded out as I charged up, then fired off a huge beam of electric energy at the mass of Rockets. An explosion sent them all flying away into the horizon. I then altered course and flew Misty and I towards Cerulean. Once we entered the more public area, I landed and allowed Misty to lead the way to her home. We headed past numerous shops and housings until we reached the Gym. I was confused. "Why are we here?" Misty gave me a slight glance. "I live here, stupid." I blinked.  
  
"Oh-h-h…" I sighed at last as I followed her to the back of the gym where a door led to a flight of stairs. I continued to follow Mist' as she ascended the stairwell two levels to a residential portion of the structure. Misty was met by her three frantic sisters, who all rapidly engaged in a jumbled greeting. "Like, totally, WHAT HAPPENED, sis?" "We like, saw the news and now we're all, like, freaked out!" Misty shushed the jabbering trio of valley girl trainers. "I'm fine, ok? I need to stay here until things calm down a little…" I stayed mostly hidden behind Misty just in case her sisters plotted revenge against me for dragging her into all this. She took notice and added with a slight whine, "I also need to hide Ash here for a while…" Lily let out a shrill scream. Daisy yelped, "YOU BROUGHT HIM?!" Misty growled. "YES, I BROUGHT HIM, he's still my FRIEND, OK?!" Violet remained silent, her gaze fixed on me. I felt like running away and tossing myself off a cliff. Misty sighed and told her sisters the whole story from the minute we met the dragon up till now. Lily was in awe. "So like, Ashy boy here was like, all heroic and stuff?" Misty shrugged. "Guess so." "Why don't you ask him for yourself?" "Why me?" Lily smirked after Misty's imploration. "Well, why not? He's still you're FRIEND isn't he? Or is he more than that after that life-risk he took to save you?" Lily made a dramatic pose and the other two sisters giggled at the concept. I felt my face get hot. "WE'RE JUST FRIENDS!!!" I yelled, more than surprised to find that Misty had concurrently shouted the exact same words as I had. Violet smiled. "All right, all right, calm down you two. Don't have a cow, okay? You can stay up here, and we'll keep you guys in shelter from the baddies and cops and all those people, 'kay?" "Fine with me…" Misty agreed. "Ash?" Violet implored. "Huh?" I muttered. My mind had wandered. "Violet repeated her question. "Uh…yeah…fine…" I mumbled, feeling more and more tired by the minute. I took little notice of Misty who was gazing at me with concern shrouding her face. "Ash, you ok?" She asked. "Mm-hm…" I said even more inaudibly. I slowly scanned my records and found the statistics file. My energy level was at 3%. The battle and traveling had left me winded to an extremity. "Time…to…Recharge…Gooooo' niiiiiight…" I smirked blankly as I blacked out and fell into a deep sleep, the recharge program starting up and doing its job to replenish my energy to 100%. I enjoyed the rest… I needed it.  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 10  
  
*Ash*  
  
  
  
When I awoke, I found it to be dark in the room that I was currently placed inside. My vision automatically switched to nocturnal, and I got a good look around myself. I was laid on a bed that was laid against the wall by its side. A dresser was next to the head of the bed, and another was at the end of it. I took note of a lamp on both pieces of furniture. I also saw a digital clock. The time was currently 2:08 AM. Whoa. How the heck did I get up at this ludicrous time? I sighed and got out of bed, slowly making my way to the closed door, and careful to make the least amount of noise possible. I gently twisted the knob and opened the door, then peeked out into the hallway. Silence. Dead silence. I tiptoed downstairs, surprised to find myself hungry. Oh, well… I thought. I guess even androids get hungry… I opened the fridge and poked my head in to see what there was to make a quick snack with. Lunchmeats and bread immediately caught my attention. I took out some ham and cheese and whipped a sandwich together by adding two slices of bread. I ate my past-midnight snack, put the excess food away (after stealing a few more bites' worth) and then headed back upstairs. I stopped short and listened. The silence was broken…I could hear muted breathing. Almost like someone was breathing as quietly as humanly possible. I looked to my right, then to my left. I nearly jumped almost 20 feet up through the air as my observer let out a yelp. I leaned against the stair banister. "He-e-el-lo-o-o-o-o-o-o…" I stopped short as the shadowed figure started to run. I knew it had to be either Misty or one of her sisters. I caught her up by the collar of her pajama-shirt. "I wasn't trying to spy on you…really… I wasn't…" The voice whimpered. "Ho-o-o-old it, you." I spun her around to get a good look at her. Yes, it was Misty. I knew that hairstyle and face anywhere. "And why would you be scared of me if you WERE spying on me?" She looked at me. "Y-You mean, you're not mad?" I smiled and laughed quietly. "Heck no, not unless you tell your sisters I ate half the contents of the fridge…" I coughed a little and rubbed the back of my neck with my hand. "So what're you doing up at this ungodly hour of the night, huh?" I inquired. Misty sighed. "I was planning on asking YOU that…" I shrugged. "I was hungry…so sue me." Misty heaved yet another sigh. "I can't stand sleeping in the same room as my sisters…they snore too loud…" I forced myself not to laugh. "Your sisters snore?" I felt my voice break on the end of the sentence as I fought numerous laughter attacks. "Yes, sadly, they do." Misty looked down the stairway. "I was coming down to sleep on the sofa…it pulls out into a bed, you know." "Ah." I looked back towards the room in which I had slept. "Why don't you sleep in that room?" Misty shifted her gaze to it. "Isn't that where YOU'RE sleeping?" I smiled. "Not anymore." I paused. "You don't have to sacrifice a nice soft comfy bed for a couch, Ash…"Misty said, blinking. I quietly laughed. "And you don't need to bother quarreling with me, because you know I'd win." "No, you wouldn't…" Misty quickly countered. "Would too." "Would not." "Would too." "Not." "Would" "Not" "I BLOODY WOULD!!!" I suddenly yelped, probably waking all occupants of the house. Misty whimpered and started running to the room. "D'oh!" I muttered as I took chase. "Wait, dang it all!" I went into the room, finding Misty buried under numerous bed sheets. "I didn't mean to yell…sorry…" I whispered to her as I approached the side of the bed. "It's ok…" Her muffled voice replied. I bit my lip. Why had I lashed out like that? I did that same thing back at the hospital…acting so harshly…  
  
I sat down at the edge of the bed. "Really, though…" I added quietly. Poking her auburn-red hair-covered head out from under the bed covers, she glanced at me. "Why are you bothering to convince me about that?" I felt my expression fault a little. "Well, you ran away from me." There were a few short moments of silence before Misty started into a muffled laughing fit as she smacked her head into the pillow repeatedly. I just sat there, blinking. Misty carried on like this for quite a long period of time until she finally got up enough breath to cackle out, "I…wasn't running… from YOU…" More laughing ensued at this point. Finishing up with the hyena-impersonation, Misty gasped in a few more deep breaths, then cleared her throat. "Ash…I wasn't running from you…" She smirked as if she were about to laugh again. "You see…my sisters wake up REALLY grumpy if they have to awaken before 10 AM…" She had a ridiculous expression on her face by this time, almost as if she were going to sneeze, but was trying to hold it back. "Don't…cross paths with them after that kind of early wake up call…" Mist' suddenly appeared serious again. "And DON'T yell at me again, robot-boy." With that final comment, she ducked back under the covers and covered her head with the pillow, as if she were fortifying herself for battle. In a few short, fatal seconds I knew why. "LIKE, WHO THE  
  
HELL JUST, LIKE, WOKE ME AND MY SISTERS UP?!" I was completely dismayed to find Misty snoring loudly and very realistically. Violet looked at me, then at Misty, then back at me. "I'LL LIKE, TOTALLY KILL YOU FOR TOTALLY RUINING MY BEAUTY SLEEP!" Lily roared. I felt my expression entirely fault this time. "Oh,-" I inaudibly swore and ran towards the doorway, the trio of pissed-off sisters lunging wildly at me like furious football players deprived of their morning coffee. I glided down the stair banister and slid across newly varnished floors (Okay, who varnished those at this time of night, and why do I always get onto this kind of floor when I'm trying to escape???) into the pantry. I tried to open the window. No luck. I swore again, this time not so quietly. I jerked at the window. To my utter surprise the whole darn frame ripped out of the wall. I blinked at the entire window in my hands. "Oops…" The three of Misty's older siblings ran into the room, but stopped dead in their tracks as soon as they took note of the house ware in my grip. "Oh, my, GAWD!" Violet screeched in her highly irritating valley girl accent. Lily started to back away, smiling pathetically, bumping into Misty on her way out of the pantry room. Daisy did the same thing. Misty…well…she just stared blankly until her face went pale. "LOOK OUT!" She cried. I spun around too see what had alarmed her…slamming a guy from a Rocket-base SWAT team in the chin with the window frame and knocking him to the floor with no proof of effort on my behalf. "AH! My bad!" I dropped the window, allowing it to smash, and darted through the jumble of Water Trainers, screaming my lungs out. Misty took pursuit, knowing she too was in danger of being arrested or whatever else these baddies had up their sleeves. "How the heck do these people FIND ME?!" I hollered in panic and aggravation. Misty whined. "How would I know!? You're the ANDROID HERE, YOU figure it OUT!!!" I cringed. "Good answer…" I could hear the officials gaining on us as we darted through the front door. Some of the TR-SWAT team was waiting in ambush, but we had the head start. I noticed Misty was slowing up because of her shortness of stamina and breath. I pulled over in front of her and instructed her to hop on my back. She acknowledged the request and perched back up on her now- usual spot as a piggyback rider as I sped up a little.  
  
Then I saw it- it was barely visible, especially since it was nighttime, and even with my nocturnal vision it was obscured in shadows. A slit of a cave entrance beckoned my state of refuge. I kept straight until trees masked the officials' view of me, then I hairpin turned into it, barely squeezing through without scraping Misty and myself with the rock walls of the doorway. Misty hopped down from my back and cowered back in a corner of the small crevice of a cavern as the officials marched by, shouting orders at one another and dashing about uniformly. Then I heard a loud crack, like that of a whip…then a scream. Misty let out a weak cry. I recognized the voice too… It was none but Violet, who was indeed, at the mercy of a bullwhip held by one of the officers. "Where are they?!" He screamed at her. She could only let out a frightened sob. Another lashing of the whip only brought more tears. Misty tried to run out of the cave to her sister. I held her by the arms and eventually had to pin her against the wall against her will. She watched the scene in absolute horror. I felt rage inside me. How could these Rockets be so cruel? To think I was supposed to be one of them… I closed my eyes, but the screams only seemed louder, and Misty's weak, muted sobs only became echoes in my ears. I couldn't stand by and let this happen…I had to make up for killing those innocent people from the hospital…for almost killing the horrified girl who I held still as she watched her sister being whipped. Now… It was a huge risk…but I wanted to take it… Had to take it… Now… I could feel a tingle of excess electricity running over my body, and apparently Misty did too. I could even feel a twinge as my eyes shifted color…from hazel brown…to a glowing, liquid silver. Misty whined. I stepped back from her, and then darted out the cavern. One of the SWAT members called out to another. "There! There he is!" "Ash, what do you think you're doing!?" Misty yelped in surprise. I slammed the officer who was beating Violet in the head, knocking him unconscious immediately. I then took out the oncoming trio of SWAT members by spinning in a circle and knocking them all with my fist in a single swift motion. The rest of the members slowed their approach, seeing just how powerful I was. I called back to Misty "They'll be bringing reinforcements in soon! Get your sisters and stand together over there," I pointed to a spot 10 yards away by the cave. She nodded and aided her sisters to the location, Violet whimpering from the pain. I aimed at them, fully charged up. Lily let out a whine. "What's he doing?!" Murmurs could be heard from the currently dispatched TR SWAT members. I fired a beam of a pale lavender color, which hit the quartet of sisters, transporting them all to the next town…Vermillion. The flash of light stunned the Rockets, so I decided to just run instead of massacring the lot of them. I sprinted towards Vermillion City, energy at only half of what it had been less than an hour ago…  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 11  
  
*?*  
  
  
  
A soft steady whir awoke me. What a queer resonance… But wait… Where was I? I tried to contact him. …Silence… Where was he? Why did he not reply? I soon gained vision and feeling capabilities…then hearing and the rest of my bodily functions, including taste, body temperature, sense of smell, and the like. I saw that I was in a wooded area, on a beaten path. Running. Yes… I was running. But why…? I had not issued such a command! I tried again to contact him. …Still no answer. I then felt exhaustion take over another time, and so I once more fell into blackness and silence…  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 12  
  
*Ash*  
  
I was tiring out from the extensive run, for over an hour had past of just that, without a time of resting. I finally consented to slow down and look around for a breather. "Should'a teleported 'em closer than Vermillion, darn it all…" I panted. After about 15 minutes, I was ready again, and I began once more my constant sprint to Vermillion City. After repeatedly running and stopping, running and stopping, I made it to Vermillion before the sun had set. I immediately took shelter behind a large shrub to get a perspective on the area. To my surprise (shouldn't have been) I saw no one there. Had they run out when Mist' had appeared from nowhere? Or did they hear I was coming and evacuated? I ran a scan on the area, finding no human life except for a number of inhabitants dwelling in a house not far away. I stepped out and walked towards it. I could pick up some faint noises from the residence. I placed my hand on the doorknob and twisted, finding it unlocked.  
  
I opened the door to find not Misty, Violet, Lily, and Daisy, but a mother and her two children, one obviously too young to be a Trainer, but the other about 11 years of age, 2 Poké Balls clipped to his belt. As soon as she caught sight of me, the mother let out a cry and huddled her children behind her. "STOP! Don't come any closer!!!" She cried out again as I glanced down at the frightened children. "Please! Don't! Leave them alone!!! They didn't do anything to YOU!"  
  
I took in a deep breath. So this is what people think of me now, I thought sadly. I'm not human anymore. So I guess that makes me a monster to them… To the mother's horror, the older of the two children stood up, Poké Ball in hand. "Sean, please! Don't! You'll make him angry!" The boy pursed his lips. "I'm not going to let him hurt us- Go, Meganium!" In a bright flash of red light, the towering green flower-adorned Pokémon appeared with a roar. I didn't want to fight. Not after seeing this. But according to the book of Trainer conduct, I had to accept this battle. Whether I liked it or not… I pulled a Poké Ball off my belt. It was the black and silver Poké Ball with a lightning bolt above the latch. "Pikachu, go…" I said, my voice catching near the end. My own little mouse Pokémon appeared with a flash of silver light. I was stunned to see it. It was no longer that shade of golden yellow, but its fur had grown black, and its eyes radiated a threatening cobalt blue. The deepest blue I had ever seen. Twilight-gray stripes doubled on its back, and on its tail where the brown once was, the same gray resided. "What th-…" I was cut short. "Sean, please! It looks dangerous!!!" The mom whimpered. I hadn't expected this! I'd merely wanted my normal Pikachu to go out and fight! This Pikachu looked like it wanted to kill. I took a deep breath and looked at him. "Pikachu?" It turned and looked up at me, the bloodthirsty look no longer in its glowing eyes… no…not glowing… his normal colors were returning! Yet…now the creature itself was glowing with a silver light that nearly blinded me. "I think it's evolving!" the younger child cried. A moan of dread could be heard from the mother at that point. "Evolving…how…?" I said, shocked. I hadn't even had a Thunderstone with me. How could it evolve…? The glowing subsided. True to the younger child's word, my Pikachu had evolved. "Raiii!!!" It cried triumphantly. I merely gawked. Then it hit me. Those colors Pikachu was after I sent him out…matched the Poké Ball perfectly! The Poké Ball must have let off energy because of that bolt mark on it, evolving Pikachu! "Holy Fnork-a-strudel!!!" I yelped. "Wha-a-a-at?" Sean said, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy. "Ah…err…uh…" I face faulted. "How about a rain check?!" I recalled Raichu and raced out the door. "Hey!" Sean yelled after. "What about our match?!" "LATER!!!" I called back. MUCH later… I added silently.  
  
Suddenly I slammed into someone. "AAAH!" She cried, falling back into a large bush from the impact. I merely swayed, dazed from the collision. "Like…oh. My. Gawd. My HAIR!!!" The bushwhacked girl screamed. "Oh. Hi Daisy." I said grinning nervously. "You like, killed my HAIR!!!" She screeched, obviously too preoccupied to note my greeting. "Uh…" I blinked.  
  
"Ash?" Misty poked her head out of the shed parallel to the griping, moaning, complaining Daisy. "Hi. And will you please tell her to kindly SHUT UP NOW?" I nodded my head at Daisy. Misty laughed. "Once you ruin her hairdo, you'll wish you hadn't. Come on in. I got Violet set up in bed with hot tea and everything." She withdrew into the building as I took suit, pausing only to get a glance of an enraged Daisy pulling leaves from her hair.  
  
Upon entering the "shed", which I had misjudged earlier, I came into a well-stocked cabin-like abode, outfitted with lighting, a fireplace, a number of beds and other furniture, and a kitchen. Oh, yes. A kitchen. Daisy poked her head in the doorway as I started towards the foo-oo-oo-ood. "Hey Ashy-boy! You got a visitor. His name's Sh-…sh-…err…what's your name again, kid?" *Pause* "Oh! Sean. Kid named Sean." I groaned. Misty blinked. "Okay, Ashy knows something I don't." Sean looked at me. "I wanna finish my battle, mister." I cringed. "I don't look THAT old, do I?" Sean smirked. "I can't tell. How long you benna robot for?" I sighed. "Since when did that matter…?" Sean pulled the Poké Ball off his belt again. "Let's just finish this now…" Another flash of light revealed the Meganium. I sighed. "All right, if I beat you, you go away ok?" He nodded. "And if you don't…" He grinned. "…I turn you in to the cops and get the reward." I frowned. "And that's why you came after me. In hopes of getting that bounty." He nodded. "Ok then…" Misty sat down on the bed next to her sister, Daisy and Lily also finding a seat to watch the oncoming show.  
  
I pulled Raichu's Poké Ball off the belt and held it in my hand. I could literally feel electricity surging from the latch and seam. He was ready to fight. And now, so was I. "Let's do it!" Sean cried as my Raichu appeared. "RRRAI!" "GGGAAARR!" Sean ordered his massive flower dinosaur to cast out a Razor Leaf attack. "Raichu, deflect and evade!" I barked. Raichu did so, not getting hit once. "Now! Body Slam!" "RaaaaaIIII!" Meganium was literally careened into the doorway, smashing it right off the hinges. I cringed. "Maybe we should have done this outside…" Sean smiled weakly. "Yeah…" So we switched positions, from indoor to outdoor. "Better. Now. Raichu, Thunder!!!" Raichu charged up, hopped onto his tail and hurled a giant bolt of lightning at Meganium, ultimately frying it and KO'ing it at the same time. "Meganium!" Sean yelped. He recalled it, sulking. "Ok, that's how you'll play it." He pulled the second and final Poké Ball off his belt, allowing a beam of light to jet out and hit the ground with another brilliant red flash. I felt a shiver run up my spine. A loud roar greeted me as a Steelix emerged from the fading light. "Oh, crud…"I moaned. Raichu let out a whine. Even he was no match for Steelix. "Earthquake!" Sean called out. A sudden surge of energy tore through the ground, slamming Raichu onto its back, knocking it out. This was a sickeningly strong Steelix…too strong. I frowned. Raichu was my only Pokémon. Not good. I recalled it. I took note of the Poké Ball with a silver whirlpool emblem above the latch. Misty was carrying the egg… I felt my stomach knot up. "OH…-" I added in another unrepeatable word, which probably startled the kid. "Misty, where's that egg I had you carry?! The black and silver one?!" Misty's face went pale. "Uh…" She fidgeted. "I… thought you had it in the Poké Ball…" "I couldn't carry it because it wouldn't hatch!!!" I groaned and covered my face with one hand. "AAAAAUUUURRRRGGGGHHH!!!!" Sean looked like he was having second thoughts about taking me to the authorities. "At least check the Poké Ball, Ash…" She sighed hopelessly. I winced and unclipped the Poké Ball. This better work… I muttered silently. For a minute nothing, then there was suddenly a huge explosion as the silver light beam shot out and hit the ground. A blinding flash of white light caused me to flinch from its intensity. A small but echoing roar met my ears. The light soon faded. "Holy…" Sean gasped. I looked down at a Black and silver Lugia, only a baby, but apparently very powerful and basically a small-scale version of a normal Lugia plus that weird coloring… Where a Lugia would have an extremely pale blue, this Lugia had pure black. Where dark blue was on an ordinary, this one had silver. Its eye color radiated a golden silver mix of shades that reflected a large amount of light, making its eye stand out to a high extent. "Lraw!" It chirruped. I slightly smiled. "Hi, there." It looked up at me, even though it was nearly my size. I suddenly heard a gasp from Misty or one of her sisters. "That thing isn't going to help you." Sean growled. I then heard the sound of a gun being cocked…then the nozzle touching the back of my head. "I'll get that reward whether you win or not." I closed my eyes. "You're no average kid are you?" A low laugh. "I'll bet you wish you'd known that a lot sooner, Dauphin." I exhaled slowly, and then inhaled again. "You'll still get a reward for turning me back in to Team Rocket?" The gun nozzle was pressed harder against my scalp. "Yes, indeed. Twenty-five thousand bucks is the current reward for you, Dauphin." "Ash…" Misty started, but Sean, who yelled yet another word, which I will refrain from using, abruptly cut her off. "Now, Dauphin." The low laugh again… "Time to come home…" "NO THANKS!!!" I suddenly yelled. What the hell!? I didn't yell that! Before I knew what was happening, Sean was careened into the air by a nice, smooth sling of my arm, and his gun was in my hand. I looked around frantically. "What the?!" "Heehaw! That was fun! Again!" I said in the slightly altered tone of voice. I was downright confused. I hadn't said or done any of that.  
  
Then it hit me. "AAAAAHH!! CRAP!" Misty stood and came over to me, concern on her face as Lily and Daisy, who tied him up to the wall with floss (o.O) and rope, took Sean into custody. "You ok, Ash?" Misty said, looking at me. "He's fine!" The voice chirped. "AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!" I screamed again. Misty looked scared to death. "What's happening!?" She cried. "DAUPHIN BLOODY WOKE UP!!!" I yelled. "Wh-…Dauphin??!" Misty gasped. "I thought you deleted him!" "I couldn't!" "Because then he'd die, too!" "AAAH!!" "Like, what the hell is going on!?" "AAAAAH!" "Ash, calm dowwwwnn!!!" "AAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!" "Hahahaha...he screams funny" "Like, totally, what the hell…" Mass panic. Yay. 'PANIC! YAH! FUN!' AAAAAAHHHH!!!! I covered my ears and closed my eyes, falling over on my side screaming. "MAKE HIM GO AWAAAAAY!!!"  
  
Misty knelt down and shook me. "Snap out of it, Ash!" Lily was dumbfounded, along with Daisy and Violet, who was blankly looking at the scene from the doorway. I then felt a tingle run down my spine, and I couldn't help but to suddenly feel calm. 'Now listen you… You deleted those TR files, right?' He asked me. …Yeah… I had. 'Ok… that's why I'm different. I don't feel evil anymore!' I sat up. "Really?" I asked. Misty looked at me in confusion. "Really what?" I blinked. "I'm talking to Dauphin…"I replied. "Oh..." She said with a slight nod. 'Deploy the headgear, Aaron.' Aaron? My name isn't Aaron… 'It is, according to Team Rocket. They gave you a new alias for traveling with. You can alter your appearance… didn't you know that?' I bit my lip. No…I didn't know that. 'Well, now you do.' He paused. Allow me to upgrade your system…it's really behind information and ability-wise…' Ok…Upgrade, huh? 'Yeah. New weapons, more abilities…. I blinked. 'Sound good, Aaron?' Yeah. Now what were you saying about a headgear? 'Here, I'll deploy it for you…' A whirring noise indicated that a small cylinder of metal, not nearly as wide as a pencil in diameter, protruding from my left ear. It opened up, covering the ear itself, and sending a pair of extremely narrow metal rods towards the front of my face. One rod stopped partway over my left eye, and at this point it allowed 3 other even thinner wires to protrude from the three sides so that I had a crosshair directly in front of my eye. The second metal rod had stopped in front of my mouth and the tip had formed into a microphone. "Now isn't this better?" Dauphin said, his voice almost clear except for a few hints of static. Misty looked at me curiously. "What is that?" She asked. "Headgear." I said simply. "Well…" Dauphin added. "It's officially known as a Cranial Access Vocalized Telepathic System..." "Lay off the big words, Dauphin..."  
  
"Yes sir!" He replied, then added "By the way, now that you've set up the headgear, and also since I have no more Rocket-related files, you can now access my help whenever and wherever it is needed. I will automatically shut off after I find it proper to be no longer idling. You can retract the headgear, but you won't be able to contact me otherwise if you should. Finding out how to use your new abilities and weapons should be easy as bologna, as you humans say." I sweat dropped. "Easy as PIE, Dauphin. Pie." A short pause. "Same difference…" He finally muttered. "Signing off now. Ciao! Call me when you need me. I know you will…" I thought that last part was a bit queer. Well, maybe I would need his aid if there were another fight or something… I'd see about that. The headgear rolled up and retracted, basically reversed motion as when it was deployed. I sighed. "Well, that went well." "Well, stop saying well, and well, I might stop saying well too." Misty said, grinning. "Dun mock me…" "Dun?" Misty looked puzzled. "What's 'Dun' mean?" "DON'T, I mean 'don't'!!! Aaaarrghh.."  
  
I stomped over to the shed-house and poked my head in. Sean was wrestling with the floss and rope. "Having fun, dear?" I said in a highly irritating singsong voice. He glowered at me. "Oh, shut UP, you…" I grinned at him. "You'd best be getting comfortable. You'll be staying with us a few days, my wonderful, useful little hostage." Misty face-faulted. "We're using him for a hostage?!" I smirked. "Only in Team Rocket's case…besides. He got himself into this. Let him try and get out of it." Lily made a ridiculous face at the struggling Trainer. "I'd like to slug you, lady. I really would." Sean mumbled. "Watch your mouth, sir." I said, pulling a roll of masking tape out of my pocket and strapping it over his mouth. "Now stay real still." I held his own gun to his forehead. "You wouldn't want this gun to go off, now would you?" I turned to look at Lily and Daisy, who were both, still thunderstruck. "Can you guys go and summon the rest of his family for me? I need to have a word with them." "Totally!" The two sisters piped up simultaneously, and then ran out the door…or what was left of it. Misty glanced at me. "I know that look in your eyes, Ash. You have a really stupid idea up your sleeve, don't you?" I laughed. "Stupidest one yet."  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 13  
  
*Ash*  
  
In the time window offered to me as the two of Misty's three sisters dashed off on my errand, I chose out an interesting costume of metal, wood, and old bed sheets, to the extent I was apparently some mutated ghoul at a glance. Misty didn't get it. "WHY are you doing this again?" She asked dubiously. "I am DOING THIS because that woman and that other kid KNEW Sean was a Rocket, but did they tell ME that? No-o-o-o-o. So. I'm getting a little revenge." I winked at her, and then pulled the cloth down over the front of my body. "How I look?" I asked through the musty-smelling cloth. "Like a nutcase wearing sheets, 2x4's and metal pie tins." She replied sardonically. I frowned to myself. "I don't find that particularly amusing…" I grumbled. She quietly laughed (at my expense, might I add) and patted me on the back. "Don't worry, you make a very convincing walking, talking scrap heap." I pulled the cloth up above my face again. "One more remark like that, and you'll be locked in a closet for the next 6 months." I sarcastically slurred. "Oh, you be quiet and get under the cover…" She smiled as I lowered the cloth over myself a second time "…all of them." She added with a giggle. "I will strangle you with my deadly bed sheet weaponr-…" I was cut short by Daisy, who opened the door and looked in. "Your…guests…are like, here now, k?" "Ah…yes…" I smirked. Daisy smiled nervously. "They're like, totally PO'd about their son being like, totally hung up, y'know what I mean?" "Yeah, yeah, ok Daisy, go out and entertain them. Ash the walking pile of junk is almost ready to make his…entrance…" I growled at her. Daisy giggled. "He makes like, a really good evil walking sheet thing, doesn't he?" "Indeed…" Misty agreed. She then sighed as Daisy left. "You sure about this though, Ash? It seems kind of risky…all these people might be rockets…who know what they could do? Phone up reinforcements? Set off dynamite? Even blow YOU up?" I discreetly rolled my eyes under my costume. "I'll be fine, ok? This'll be easy as…in Dauphins words…heh…bologna…"  
  
I shook off the slight joke. "Ok, Mist'…do your stuff!" Moments later, Misty burst out the door into the next room, screaming, clutching what would be a fake wound on her shoulder. "He's gone mad! Mad! YOU HAVE TO GET OUT!!! BEFORE!! BEFORE!!! Befo-…." A thud was heard. My cue. I took a deep breath and made a huge, defiant roar. A loud shriek echoed from the next room. I slammed through the door, fire illuminating my disguise. Electricity sparked off and hit random things…including poor Sean. Ice froze the ground below me and the ceiling above. I roared again, as the bonds that held Sean burned away. His mother grabbed him by the arm, along with the other kid, and yanked them out, screaming her lungs out. Suddenly, everything went silent. Dead silent. The remains of the costume adorned upon me smoldered away as I slowly peeked out the front door. The three humans who had just run from our house… They all… All three… They lay dead on the path, lying in pools of their own blood. I felt my muscles stiffen up. This silence… This silence…  
  
It was that creature…again…. It had to be that creature! My headgear deployed. "Aaron, what's the deal?! I just got a message from TR's Messenger about losing three members at its own hand!" I frowned. "Does this…Messenger…resemble a dragon…by any chance?" I asked slowly.  
  
"Why, yes!" Dauphin exclaimed in a frivolous tone. "It quite does so! A giant android dragon, I take it? Ah…yes…no need to tell me. I see the memories in your memory bank…" I choked. "YOU CAN READ THROUGH MY MEMORIES?!" Dauphin slightly chuckled. "Hey, as long as I'm around, they're mine too." My face went red. Dauphin went silent for a short time. "Well, hey." He said with a slow, drawn out tone of voice, "It's not like there's anything that you're HIDING, eh, Aaron?" I choked on air again. "N-no. I'm not hiding anything! Where'd you get such a-…a...preposterous idea?!" Misty was grinning nervously. "You two going to stop quarreling, or am I going to have to use that masking tape on you, hmm?" "She has a good point." A familiar, resonant voice said firmly. I looked up, to see the massive dragon towering behind Misty. Her face went pale. "Its…behind me… isn't it?" "How did you manage to guess?" It asked…with what almost appeared to be a smile. Misty spun around and backed up into me with a bump, so busy staring up at the dragon that she was too distracted to notice me until that moment, which she finished up with a yelp. I shook my head lightly. "Calm down, will you?" I muttered.  
  
The dragon exhaled abruptly, calling for attention in that manner. Misty cowered behind me. "Kendra." Dauphin slurred out. "What do you want now?" "Kendra?" I asked, blinking my eyes in confusion. "She's in the form of this body you see before you. She used to be a normal girl, just like you, Aaron." I frowned. "I was never a girl." "Ah…err…I meant she was a normal human like you, you know what I meant!" Misty ever so slightly giggled. "Yes, yes. Now that we've been introduced, I have news. As Dauphin has previously related, I am a Messenger for Team Rocket. I have come bearing the news that you, Aaron, will be able to use the body- that which is before you- in battle or as a pastime." She lowered her gaze. "Under one condition." She looked at me again. "You must defeat me in a 1-on-1 battle to earn this form. Dauphin cannot participate in any way, shape or form." Dauphin broke in. "Wait! Doesn't that mean he'll only be as strong as he was before I was installed?" The dragon closed her eyes and nodded. "In victory, the win must be alone. In robotics, nothing is spared for the sake of gain." I groaned. "Ash, you can't fight the thing, especially not as your normal self! You're going to get killed!" Misty spoke up, giving me an expression of both fret and rage. I clenched my teeth. "And what if I decline this proposal, Kendra?" The dragon opened her eyes again. "Then you will be deactivated. Team Rocket's orders." I felt my stomach jerk into a knot. "I am capable of immobilizing Dauphin's abilities and strengths. You will do the rest." With that, I felt a sharp twinge jerk through my body. I tried contacting Dauphin. No reply. "He can't talk to you." Kendra quietly said. "But he can hear and see, just in the way you were when you were first out of the laboratory's robotizing chamber. He has all the senses. He just can't move or control anything unless I unobstructed him." I slowly nodded. "So that's what you leave me with. I can either take this challenge and lose… and what would happen if I don't win anyways?" Kendra gazed at me silently, then said, "You will die."  
  
I let out another moan. "Why me. Why ME." "You don't have choice but to win this, Aaron. As much as I cheer you on, I will not be easy to overpower and defeat!" Kendra reared up off her four legs onto her two hindquarters with a thundering roar that shook the ground and quaked the trees. I felt nauseated. Frightened. Petrified. I knew Dauphin felt the same. He had to be. Both our lives depended on this battle…on my triumph...if it would come to pass at all…  
  
Kendra backed up out into a large grassy field. Perfect for a battle. One- on-one. The giant, deadly, evil dragon against weak, defenseless, little me. Oh, goody. I started towards the field. "Ash…" Misty started before I had taken a step. I looked at her. For a minute she said nothing, her head down. Then she looked up at me, her celadon green eyes shimmering with moisture. "Be careful… please…" I bit my lip and glanced at the massive, waiting creature. "I will." I whispered. "I certainly will." She nodded. "Better go and get to it, then…" Her voice cracked.  
  
"You'd better win, Ash. You STILL owe me a bike." I sighed. Why did she always say that when I was about to do something stupid or dangerous? Huh. I resumed walking to the field, and finally came to a stop a few yards from the dragon. "Let the fight begin!" She proclaimed with a roar.  
  
'How about, Let me go home and hide in my room?' I thought silently with a whine.  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 14  
  
*Ash*  
  
And so it began- Kendra lunged, teeth bared, eyes glowing. I immediately leaped out of the way, only to be caught by a stunning slam of her massive tail. I hit the ground, sliding a few yards before coming to a full stop. I cringed. My arm had been scraped from wrist to shoulder.  
  
Misty let out a frightened cry. I recoiled in pain, but stood. My whole left arm felt like it was on fire. Kendra sneered. "No match for me, you are!" She once more slammed me, but not with her tail- this time the blow was dealt with a ferocious swing of her right foreleg, bared with claws. I weakly cried out as the metal weapons on her dragon-like limb tore into my flesh. I hit the ground for the second time. This time I was too weak to get up- in too much pain to get up. Misty tried to run to my side, but an invisible barrier sparked to life and knocked her back a few feet. "One-on- One." Kendra sneered as she approached, step by step. I looked up at her. "This was just too easy, Ash." She frowned. "I don't like easy prey." With that she lifted her foreleg and dropped it down across my neck and torso, the bladed claws digging into my right side. I clenched my teeth as she began putting her unimaginably immense weight on the leg…on me…  
  
"Ash…" Misty whimpered. The battle had just begun…and now it was coming to an end. In seconds, my life was flashing through my mind… first from the most recent events…rolling back to before I even got my Trainer's license…and even before that… …and then it hit me. Two things. Back at the hospital. The hospital…my rampage. I had shut Dauphin off…and yet I still could use the system. He wasn't there. We couldn't communicate…like now… and the other… Kendra. I should have known that voice… Kendra… Aurora. "Aurora." I whispered weakly, my lungs nearly crushed by my pressured rib cage. The giant creature hesitated. "What did you call me?" She almost silently gasped in a muted voice. "Aurora…" I gasped for air. I tried to smile...but the pain was too much. Kendra glowered down at me. "So you remember me, Ash. Even after so long." I felt the need to cry…but I could not… androids can't cry… "Forgive me…" I choked. Aurora suddenly pressed down violently on me. Misty screamed as a sickening crush was heard… "…Forgive me…" I whispered, my new location in front of her, her clawed foreleg buried in the ground. With that, my body radiated with a pure white light. Aurora gasped. "How the heck?!" Misty suddenly realized. "Back at the Hospital!" I grinned. "I don't need Dauphin to win this, Aurora. Like you said. 'Nothing is spared for the sake of gain.' However…I don't believe all victories must be won alone..." My energy level hit critical mass. "Only heartless people can accomplish that…" I held the attack for a few seconds more… "Forgive me…" I whispered a third time. With that, I fired, blowing a hole clear through the dragon's chest. She reeled back, roaring in anguish, clutching the hole full of sparking live wires and smoking computer circuits. "Crap!" I yelped. The energy barrier around us suddenly collapsed under the energy loss of its creator. I backed up, then turned and ran for Misty. "Get down!!!" I cried. Misty looked paralyzed. I slammed into her without even thinking to stop running, covering her as a sudden thunderclap of a blast shook the air and ground. A massive shockwave suddenly slammed Misty and I, sending us sprawling into a nearby ledge, which still stood after the blast. I was merely stunned. A sudden whirring noise revealed the headgear on the left side of my head again. "Aaron, dude! You ok?" "Fine, fine…" I grumbled. "How'd you pull that off without me?!" He yelped in astonishment. " You underestimate me, that's all." I said quietly, holding my scraped arm. I turned to look at Misty. She was curled into a ball, shaking and whimpering. "Surprised she took that hit." Dauphin seriously stated. "Uh huh." I went over to her and shook her shoulder. "Hello-o-o-o?" I said in my singsong voice. Misty just let out a weak whine. "Carry her back to the shelter… the other three should be ok. There was a basement below the main building." Dauphin reported. "Ok." I replied, gently lifting Misty into my arms and toting her back to the now- tattered shack of a shelter. I now took note of a trapdoor, which must have been concealed beforehand by some casual house object. I tapped it with the sole of my shoe. "Hey, hey! Open up!" I called. "Go away! I don't like lizards!" I blinked. "Aw, come ON, open up, your sis is in bad shape!" I muttered, kicking the trapdoor with the heel of my shoe. The small hole finally gaped open, Lily gazing up at my carried cargo and me. "Like, where's the metal dinosaur?" She inquired. "I killed it, now how much room you got in there?" Lily looked down. "It's totally huge in here… like, you could fit a whole parking lot down here!" "Can you please STOP saying 'like' all the time? It's annoying me to death!!!" Dauphin muttered through the headgear speaker. Lily frowned. "Fine, BE that way." She slipped back down into the basement, and I followed. Violet was looking much better, and Daisy was cooking at a small stove, a ventilation system obviously hidden (Or so I hoped) in the walls of this strange cellar.  
  
I carried Mist' over to one of the 5 empty beds and laid her down upon it. Lily peered over my shoulder. "'She going to be ok?" She asked. "Hopefully." I said simply. "Got any bandaging down here?" Lily walked over and asked Daisy. She returned and shook her head. "No…sorry." Ah.. great… Dauphin spoke up. "Why do you need it, Aaron? You've got plenty." "Say what?" "In your left lower arm. Open the hatch and pull out the roll of gauze." I was dumbfounded for a moment, then I did as Dauphin had directed. "Well I'll be-…" I muttered, holding up the tattered roll of gauze. My arm was in bad shape. No wonder the gauze was too… Dauphin sighed. "Well, hey, Aaron. That was really economic of you." I frowned. "What was?" "The fact you wasted all your energy up in that one battle. You're going to have to save energy better, or you'll be beat halfway through a multi-baddie battle." I unrolled the gauze. "Do I have enough for healing Misty's wounds or my own, for that matter?" A short pause ensued. "You're only at 7% energy, Aaron. YOU tell ME." I silently gawked. "ONLY 7?!" I finally yelped. "Well, part of that energy drain WAS Kendra's doing…" He trailed off. "I didn't know she-…" I systematically cut him off. "How long will it take to replenish the lost energy?" He paused again. "Roughly 5 days, 23 hours, 43 minutes, and 29 seconds." I pursed my lips. "How much until I'll have enough to heal up Misty and myself?" "I just told you." "WHAT?!" "You need at least 80% to successfully heal an outside life form without short circuiting yourself." I groaned. "But you can physically just help heal her wounds right? I mean with ice and all that?" Dauphin perked up a little. I shook my head. "This is going to be a long 5 days, 13 hours, 43 minutes and 29 seconds." "Check that- 5 Days, 13 hours, 39 minutes, and 44 seconds." Dauphin perked up again. "Cheeky…" I muttered.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 15  
  
*Ash*  
  
I spent a majority of the day sleeping, from the previously calculated 7 am… (Roughly, that is) …to nearly 11 pm. At that time, I then awoke to find that Misty had finally awaken and was sitting on the bed next to me, checking a bandage on my wounded arm. I kept my eyes closed, but a tiny, near microscopic camera residing in my right ear scanned out live images as they occurred. Misty was using the roll of gauze I had managed to extricate from the very arm she was tending. I couldn't help but to cringe from the pain waves radiating through my arm and left half of my body. I retracted the tiny camera as I noted Mist' gazing at my injured expression. I opened one eye, then the other, finally becoming slightly used to the intense pain. "Good morning! Or evening, rather…" She said with a weak smile. The bandages I had earlier applied to her head, arm, shoulder and stomach were still in place, but slightly saturated with a crimson red shade of blood. She had changed clothes to denim Capri pants and a sky blue long-sleeved blouse. I couldn't help but to think she looked that much more attractive in her new attire. I closed my eyes as I winced from another jolt of pain. "Easy, Ash… I know it hurts… just stay still- I'm almost through replacing this bandage." It wasn't too long until she was complete, as she has told me beforehand. I sat myself up in the bed, thinking over my battle with Ke-...Aurora.  
  
Misty asking me if I wanted something to eat brought me out of my pensive state. I looked at her "What is there?" I asked. "Cereal, canned ham, bacon, eggs, cardboard and wood." She said, adding a little sardonic tone on the end two suggestions. "I'll stick to edible food… How about eggs and bacon?" She slumped her shoulders and slightly crossed her eyes. "Now HOW did I know you were going to order that?" She then shook her head and walked over to Daisy and gave her the order. I closed my eyes again. This bed seemed so amazingly welcoming. It almost seemed to be calling me back to my disrupted slumber. Crazy, isn't it? I thought to myself. Thinking beds can speak to people… Nonsense… Utter nonsense… I opened my eyes again and shifted my gaze to a mirror not to far away. Only now did I notice that I too was in differing attire than before. I still wore my trademark blue jeans, but rather than my black shirt and blue jacket, I sported a shadowy gray T-shirt with a long sleeve on one arm, and a torn off short-sleeve on the other, where my wounded arm was. I also noted a difference in my hair length and color…along with my facial expression. My hair seemed a little less unruly… longer, the bangs themselves almost covering my eyes. My eyes were different too… no longer a hazel brown, but a nearly unnatural aquamarine blue. My face no longer had a dinginess to it, but seemed now more matured and not as childish as formerly seen to myself in a reflection. It almost downright scared me. Dauphin was apparently still recharging. Misty apparently saw me gaping at my reflection, and came over to wave her hand in front of my eyes. "Earth to Ashy boy." I looked up at her. "Yyyyyeeeeeeeesssss?" I asked in a drawn out tone. "You're wondering why you look different and why I'm finally wearing something else besides that suspender-shorts yellow-shirt ordeal, aren't you?" I sighed. "You took the words right out of my mouth." I replied. Misty giggled a little. "Well, before Dauphin took his turn to nap, he told us that you were capable of entirely altering your appearance. So, he did a quick change for you and gave you a new name. Aaron Theos." "Aaron Theos, huh?" I repeated, testing the name out like a new car. "Sounds good…" Misty smiled again. I still look a lot like Misty WaterFlower, so I have brown-color contacts to fix any eye-color mishaps. Oh, and in addition to that, I have a bunch of new hairstyles to try out, courtesy of my sisters!" "Great." I paused. "Is the food ready yet? I'm starving…" Misty glanced over her shoulder. "Be patient, it'll come when it comes." I sighed, and then let out a yawn. "Still tired, even after all that sleep?" Misty asked me, slightly tilting her head to the side. "Mm-hum." I replied. Well, I guess you can rest until your food comes… can you eat with your arm in that condition?" I nodded. "Yeah, I use my right hand to use food utensils…" I drowsily answered. Exhaustion was once again taking its toll on my system. I remembered something then though. Misty's bandages needed changing too. I forced myself awake again. "Sid' down." I said, pointing to an edge of the bed in my reach. Misty hesitated, but then took a seat. I picked up the shrunken roll of gauze, mostly used up. I then pulled a full roll from my injured arm's stock, the bandage-wrapping going up in a flap with the skin hatch. I closed the hatch again and gently began work on the soiled gauze wrappings. I first removed the bandaging on her head, checked the cut, washed it out and then recoated it with gauze. I then did the same with her arm and shoulder. I felt a little shy when it came to replacing the bandages wrapped around her stomach. I partly lifted her shirt so the blood-soaked bandages wouldn't adhere to the fabric, then gently washed out the wound, and then reapplied the bandages. "There…" I said quietly. "All done." I put the gauze on a shelf nearby the bed. I turned back to Misty, who was looking at me curiously. "What did I do now?" I whined. She blinked. "Nothing…nothing." She stood and walked over to check on Daisy's food preparations.  
  
My meal was complete and ready to eat. (Ooh, poetry.) Mist' brought the plate over and laid it gently on a tray on my lap. It looked really…really good. Misty pulled a chair over and sat near the bed. "Get eating before it gets cold!" She said to me with a teasing grin. That's the way my mom used to tell me about food getting cold… Mom. I wondered where she was now. What she was doing… If she was even alive at all… Misty noticed my stalled reaction to the food as I merely stared silently at it. "You hungry?" She asked curiously. For a little while I didn't reply. "I guess not…" I whispered, my voice cloaked under muscle tension in my throat. Misty once again gave me a curious look. She took the platter and placed it on a nearby countertop, then returned to my side. Fort a short time, no one spoke. Misty's sisters soon retired to bed, though. A short time after this occurrence, Misty finally spoke. "What's wrong, Ash? I know there has to be something, the way you've been acting just now…" I drowsily blinked my eyes a small number of times. "Nothing's wrong…" I said in my quiet tone of voice. Misty slightly sighed. "If you're not telling me something that's really bothering you, Ash, it might be a good idea to vent it off in one way or another…" She very barely tilted her head to the side. I closed my eyes for a short time, and then opened them again, gazing at the popcorn ceiling. "Yeah…" I finally conceded. "So there's something bothering me. Something really bothering me." "You want to tell me about it?"  
  
I blinked again. "I don't have to say much… but just put into consideration all that went on in Pallet, and who lives there…" Misty hesitated. "The authorities and everything were there… and reporters… and… umm… Gary?" I chuckled at the last suggestion. "No, not Gary…" I paused. "Who else lives there…?" Misty pursed her lips and looked meditative for a little while. She then went pale in the face. "Y-…your mom?" She choked out, obviously hoping for a negative reply from me. I couldn't lie to satisfy her anxiety. All I did was nod. Her facial expression clouded up with concern at my reply. "You don't think she was ki-…" I cut her off. "I don't know what to think, Mist'… I seriously don't…" For a time after this, silence was prevalent in the room. To my surprise, it was Dauphin who broke the silence. "I looked up information on Delia Ketchum's whereabouts…" I clenched my back teeth together. "…And?" Dauphin to a few seconds to reply. "…It says she is now known as one of the many refugees that escaped from Pallet town unquestioned on the subject of where you and Misty had fled during that unsound hologram stunt you pulled off, Aaron. Her exact location is not listed." I sighed. "Dandy." Misty gave me a pat on the shoulder. "At least we know for a fact that she might still be alive, right?"  
  
I silently nodded as Violet came into the room. "Hey, you two. What's up?" She greeted us. I tilted my head back to look upwards. "The ceiling's up…" I said. Misty let out a slightly frustrated sigh. I smirked. "You know what she meant…" Mist' muttered, giving me a provoked glance.  
  
"Well, anyways," Violet said, ignoring Misty's mumblings. "I've heard that there's a storm coming soon. My sis's and I aren't like, 100 percent sure this makeshift house is gonna hold up too well…" Misty frowned. "Where else can we go? Those Rockets will be staking out at our house…"  
  
Dauphin perked up. "Well, are there any untenanted abodes in which we could settle?" Daisy came in upon this questionnaire. "There's a bomb shelter on the far north side of this town. We could use that." "Ok." I quietly agreed with a nod. "We do that, then. Collect your belongings and let's hit the road!" Not long after, we had everything packed and we were on our trek to the new location.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
[pic]  
  
CHAPTER 16  
  
*Aaron (Ash)*  
  
  
  
By the time we'd only walked about a quarter of a mile, the black storm clouds had all congregated and were rumbling ominously with thunder and occasionally flaring with a sudden bolt of lightning. Something about this atmosphere seemed to threaten the earth's very existence. Before long, a crack of thunder signaled the beginning of a hammering downpour.  
  
We ran to find the shelter. I couldn't help to worry about myself a bit, the memory of nearly getting short-circuited by getting wet before was well set in my mind. I could tell Misty seemed somewhat concerned over this same fact, as she used her pink windbreaker jacket to occasionally cover me from the rain. We finally came to stop at a small cavern, just large enough to comfortably accommodate the lot of us. The rain pounded for what seemed like hours, never letting up. The black cloud cover by no means broke to allow the sun to peer through. Finally, the rainwater proved too much for the already saturated soil, and water began to fill the cave from runoff outside. We collected our valuables and immediately went off in search of the bomb shelter once more, the ice-cold precipitation slicing and tearing at us in its unfriendly way.  
  
Keeping under a canopy of trees, the rain was partly blocked out as we paraded farther and farther north of the main city. "You don't think we missed it, do you?" Lily called out over the rumbling thunder and driving rains. "I hope not!" Misty called back. Taking up the rear, I wondered if we really HAD missed it…  
  
I suddenly felt a strange feeling on my belt. I glanced down as I ran, to discover a third black and silver Poké Ball. What the hell…? I asked silently. This Pokémon Ball had a small silver emblem that resembled a question mark. An unknown Pokémon? Now wasn't the time to investigate. A thunderclap brought me back to reality and the realization that everyone had run ahead and were far out of sight. I swore under my breath and began walking in the general direction, which we had been heading to begin with. To my utter panic, as soon as I began walking, an echoing pair of footsteps began pace directly behind me.  
  
A light colored mist filled the area, unfazed by the stormy weather. I spun around to face… a reflection of myself. I choked as soon as I tried to inhale, panic overtaking me. Dauphin wasn't saying anything. I tried contacting him. No good. I stared hard at the mirror image. It looked just like me. I lifted an arm, and the reflection did accordingly so. I walked around in a circle, facing the image, which again, did the same as I. I then unsheathed the sword, which I had left in its scabbard for so long. The image also did the same. I then sliced down upon the image, and to my utter horror, the image did the same. I yelped in pain as its sword grazed part of my shoulder. I also hit the image, however. He cringed also, and then his appearance changed. His black hair shaded to a silver gray, his silver-blue eyes turned to an iridescent emerald green, and his shirt faded out into a light blue, his pants darkening in color in addition to that. The sword vanished, leaving him apparently unarmed. I was wrong about that as I soon discovered. He held out one hand, a bright blue orb of energy forming inside his palm. I was caught off guard as he threw it into the air. The storm itself seemed to supercharge the energy orb, which then plunged and slammed me back a good 20 yards at least from the impact. My body sparked externally from the energy left over from the assault. I stood on my feet once more, katana readied.  
  
He charged himself up again, another icy blue orb forming in-between his hands. This time I was ready. He fired off the energy sphere as a beam of light, which I reflected with a swing of my sword. The deflected attack hit him, and he was knocked back into a tree, the leaves falling off, to my shock, frozen solid. My rival stood, glowering at me, threatening as the storm that frenzied restlessly above us. He raised his arm, an electric yellow orb now forming in his palm. He fired this. I swung my sword again, reflecting it, but was caught off guard by a second attack that hit me full force. I screamed in pain as the electricity tore through me like a wave of agony. The mist suddenly faded away as the strange character suddenly vanished with a flashing light that radiated from a medium-sized gem that had been on the middle of his shirt collar. I groaned in pain, electricity still penetrating my system long after the assault. I felt something blocking whatever I had for a throat. I inhaled partway, and then retched violently, a large spray of blood erupting from my mouth as I engaged in a fit of sadistic coughing. Blood… How could I have blood…? I thought I was no longer human… Dauphin finally spoke up. "It's not blood, although it is a vital liquid that helps your newly upgraded system to operate until it is fully strengthened over time… the plasmatic substance will then reside..." I frowned. "Cut the crap, Dauphin. Where the hell were you?!" A short period of silence. "I was here… but… I couldn't reply to you. Something was blocking me…" "Who was that, Dauphin? Can you do a lookup on him?" A short pause. "I have a record matching him, all right." "And?" "His name is Kage the Torrent. He is known for various Pokémon Center and Pokémon Mart shopliftings…" "Kage the Torrent…" "…he is also greatly feared, second to you, as one of the most deadliest enemies of mankind in existence…" "Whoa… not bad. Guess that ranking comes from those energy attacks and mirror imagery tricks…" Dauphin sighed. "Now that you've provoked him, he's bound to come back for another round." "Great…" I choked out, spitting more of the 'blood'.  
  
"Ash!" I heard someone yell over the still-thrashing rains and thunder rolls of the constant storm. I turned to see Misty and her sisters running back in this direction. "Oh my gawd!" Lily yelped upon sight of me, the bandages re-torn, numerous new wounds marking my arms, chest, face, and shoulders, the red liquid staining the ground and my skin. Misty ran over to me and looked at my injuries. "Ash, are you all right? What happened?!" Dauphin spoke for me, since another blood pool was clotting my breathing passages. "A notorious energy-wielding criminal titled 'Kage the Torrent' paid your little friend a visit…" He was cut off by another one of my vicious hacking fits. Misty laid her hand on my back. "Take it easy…" Violet frowned. "So who's this Kage guy, anyways? I think I've heard of him before…" "You probably have. He has the capability to control the elements of wind, water, electricity, ice, and ground." Dauphin didn't continue, as he was as low on energy as I, the both of us sharing the same electronic system. Kage's attacks had left me completely winded. I felt the need to cough again, but now I was just too far weakened to do so. I weakly exhaled, the blood-like substance trickling out of my mouth down the side of my chin. Misty carefully removed it with a spare handkerchief that she had in her backpack. She then helped me up so that we could keep on towards the shelter. I tried to inquire about if they had located it, but Misty stopped me and told me to take it easy. Daisy spoke up for me. "The shelter is just over this hill."  
  
It was still somewhat hard to make out what she said due to the weather conditions, but I heard enough to formulate the sentence. By the time I'd reached the summit of the small hill though, I was losing so much strength I couldn't walk, even with Misty's aid. She and Violet carried me the rest of the way, during this time span, the dark skies faded to black as I dazed out into a deep slumber.  
  
When I awoke, I was not surprised to find myself reclined in a cot located near the far side of a massive half-cylinder shaped interior room. Pain still tensed through my wounded body. The faint scent of something both like gunpowder and possibly food hung in the air. I could also still hear the thundering of both rain and the thunder itself outside as I stared up at the white reinforced ceiling. I carefully and painfully managed to get into an upright position while still sitting with my back against the wall parallel to the bedside. I saw Misty and her sisters huddled at a small coffee table of sorts, talking about something. I loaded up a program that could allow my hearing sensitivity to increase over 10 times than normally could be allowed. I tuned in solely to the conversation at that point-… "So what are going to do now? The Rockets are going to be searching for us nonstop. We can't hide here forever…they'll find it eventually, one way or another." Violet presented, her voice solemn and somewhat apprehensive. Daisy spoke up with, "Then like, what are we supposed to do? It's probably gonna be this way no matter what city we go to…" Misty heaved a sigh. "I really don't know about all that… I just know we've got to be more careful with Ash here… you saw what happened when we accidentally got too far ahead of him yesterday…" A few nodding heads were the response. You're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, Aaron… Dauphin muttered to me silently. I know that, I replied. But that's only if you're able to help me in some way… A short period of silence, during which I closed my eyes and partially dozed off. You'll learn how to manage… Dauphin's faint voice echoed through my mind. I heard some muffled voices again… then I snapped out of the sleep trance, eyes still closed as I felt one of the four conversing sisters come over and lie me back down in the bed.  
  
A loud crash suddenly blacked out the power in the shelter. "Hey!" Lily yelped. "It's the storm. It must have knocked the power out…" Violet sighed. I checked my energy status. 89%. Very good. A whirring noise signaled the deployment of my two mini floodlights. The one of four sisters who had come to re-tuck me into bed whimpered, moving around some, apparently tangled in bed sheets. The micro flashlights suddenly flared, causing a reaction of screaming from all the water trainers. I glanced down at the sheet-tangled Misty. "You're awake!" Daisy exclaimed. "Yeah, I have been…" I sighed. "Misty frowned. "...For just how long?" "Long enough…" A deafening explosion cut me off. "What's happening?" Violet cried. I felt it… a surge of electric energy… "Lightning strike…" I sighed, but before I had a chance to brush it off, I picked up the faintest whiff of something…something familiar… …like... I felt my stomach knot up. "We have to get out of here, NOW!" I yelped. Misty gave me an "Are you crazy?" look. "Why?" Lily questioned. "You know what happens when electricity or fire mixes with gas fumes?"  
  
I asked gravely. Misty whined. "You aren't saying that-…" I nodded. "We haul or we get roasted. Your choice." Violet grumbled angrily under her breath, glaring at me. "We finally find a great place to stake out, and now it's ruined!!! It's your fault, you're the one who screwed up my sister's life and our own lives!" With that she stormed over to me, eyes flaring with rage. "You should have died when you had the chance back when those Rockets tried to capture you at our house!!!" With those words, she pulled back her arm, and then slapped me hard across the cheek. I winced and partly reeled back from the impact that amplified the pain already flowing through my body from my already earned innumerable injuries. "Hey!" Misty cried. "Don't take it out on him! It's not like this is his fault… if you're going to blame someone, blame Team Rocket, at least!" Violet sneered, still glaring at me unwelcomingly. "Sis… He IS Team Rocket." Misty fell silent. I clenched my teeth. So that was true… Because of Dauphin, I was now part of Team Rocket…even if I HAD deleted those bad files. Dauphin, a creation of the enemy, was part of me, and I was part of him. I was Team Rocket… I inhaled and held my breath, these thoughts running a deep canyon through my mind like some uncontrolled deluge. The smell of gasoline was growing stronger, and the threat of an explosion was due by the next nearby lightning strike… or even if the power dared come back on. For once, I didn't care. Not for myself, anyways. I shut off communications with Dauphin. "Misty…" I whispered almost inaudibly. She gave me a sideways glance that allowed me to see the tears streaking down her cheeks. "Get your sisters out of here now…" I murmured. "What about you?" Misty whispered back. I sighed. "No questions. Get them out." She hesitated a while longer, then stood. "Come on, let's just get out of here before this place goes up in smoke." She said quietly to her older siblings. They did so, Violet taking up the rear, scowling at me even as she left. I had predicted the electric current coming in from the nearest power source. I didn't care now. They were all out of harm's way.  
  
A few minutes passed. I heard the lot of them murmuring amongst themselves outside with my extravagant hearing ability. Yes… out of harm's way… Out of the blue I noted that a small flash of light occurred in the far corner of the room. A sudden burst of heat flared through the area before being followed by a violent explosion as the flames consumed the gas and swallowed up the entire interior of the building before tearing it apart like a bombshell would annihilate a cardboard box. Silence and blackness followed as the flames also overwhelmed my own self like I was not even there, right smack in its way.  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 17  
  
*Misty*  
  
I heard it long before I saw it- a deafening roar as the fumes inside the shelter ignited. "Where's Ash?!" I cried, seeing a red line of heat appear across the shelter long-ways, and then glow yellow before shredding the entire structure apart into mere smithereens. "Holy…" was about all Lily could say before she passed out. "Get down! The blast is heading this way!!!" Daisy yelped. Violet was too close to the building… she had grudgingly gone back to call Ash out. No…please no… I moaned silently. A huge ball of flames erupted from the already blazing building. Daisy grabbed Lily and ran for it, hiding behind a large protruding cliff nearby. "Misty!!! Come on, hurry up!!!" She hollered to me. "No…!" I choked out, tears already stinging my eyes. "Violet!!!" Daisy ran out and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me, kicking and screaming behind the cliff just before a shockwave and wall of flame surged past, then waned out to a mere wisp of wind and sparks only meters away. The massive rock wall had protected us as a barrier…  
  
…But Violet and Ash… I fell forward on my hands and knees, sobbing hopelessly. My sister and my best friend… No… No… I toppled over on my side, heaving and shaking with every wail that emitted from my throat. Lily had come to by now, and she, with Daisy, were trying their best to comfort me…. But it didn't help. No… Nooo… "Misty look!" Lily suddenly cried out. I didn't want to. "Oh my gaawwwd…" Daisy choked. I slowly managed to raise my head and gaze into the flames… Against the inferno's raging blaze, I noted a dim silhouette. "No way…" I whispered. "Th-…th-…th- …" I couldn't believe it. "He's all right!" Daisy said cheerily. "See? We didn't even have to wor-…" She stopped short. She saw what else was emerging from the flames... what Ash was holding in his arms. I held my breath. When Ash had finally come clear through the flames, his clothing merely singed and burned off at the edges, his bandages mostly charred… I saw her too. "Violet!!!" Lily cried out, running to see how her sister was. I tried to stand, but my crying fit had left me exhausted. Ash slowly came over and laid Violet on the ground, leaning her up against the natural wall of stone. She weakly coughed, herself somewhat burnt and singed from the fire's rage. Daisy immediately tended to her wounds, using a roll of gauze and other medical supplied given by Ash. They'd lived… I'd… I'd underestimated him… I… I covered my face with my hands, trying to conceal another wave of sobbing that came over me. I didn't understand it. He'd seemed so depressed after his argument with Violet. He'd wanted the explosion to end his life… I realized that now… But Violet had altered his plans… he couldn't let her die, even after what she'd said and done to him. Or maybe he couldn't die. Maybe his new occupation as a non-human android had spared him, so the least he could do was spare her for our sake… I felt so horribly confused… so sick… I felt lightheaded… "Sis, you ok?" Lily asked me. I shook my head, then leaned over and vomited right then and there. Lily coughed. "Eeeww… nasty…" Daisy whined. Violet said nothing, but I saw her staring at Ash. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, but she had to be just as confused as I was. I wiped my mouth and sulked to myself. "Hey, Mist'…" Ash said, shifting his gaze from the somewhat near city on the horizon to me. I looked at him. "'You think it's sort of odd how this place lost power and that city didn't?" I hesitated. It was odd… "Yeah…" Was all I said. Ash kept his gaze on me for a short time after this. I felt uncomfortable, especially after all that had just taken place.  
  
Soon after he once more shifted his gaze- this time one of the Poké Balls on his belt. He unclipped it and looked at it a short time. I could have sworn he'd only had two Poké Balls… Now there were three. He held out the item and a bright red flash signaled the release of… I sweated. "Psy-yi-yi- yi…" An unexpected little voice called out. I couldn't help but to laugh at the expression I then saw marked all over Ash's face. It was absolute disbelief mixed with agony. "A PSYDUCK!?" He moaned helplessly. I smirked. "Well, now you can know what it feels like to own one, robot-boy." He gave me a glare. "Aww, hey. I was hoping for some huge rare Pokémon. Now I've got… a… PSYDUCK!!!" The little yellow duck looked up at Ash and held its head. "Psy?" "Whoa, like, Ash has finally found his Pokémon match IQ-wise!" Daisy exclaimed. I laughed lightly and smiled. Ash pouted. "That's not funny!" The headgear deployed out of the side of his head. "Actually, Ash's IQ is much higher than that of Psyduck's." Dauphin reported. Ash grinned to himself. "How much higher?" I asked. "About 1 IQ point." Ash groaned. "DAUPHIN YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE!!!" "Oh I AM…but I decided to tease you a little, 'robot-boy'." Ash gave me another glare. "Now you've got HIM started, CARROT-HEAD." I stood and walked over to him and looked him straight in the eyes. "Who you callin' 'carrot-head'!?" "Out of the two of us, who's got red hair? Answer that and you'll have solved the question all on your own!" He smirked. I hid a grin. "You do." He blinked. "What?" I pulled down part of his bangs over his eyes. It was a bright red color. "What the hell?" Dauphin's maniacal laughter could be heard at this point. "And besides," I smirked. "I've got ORANGE-red hair." His hair returned to normal color. "Dauphin, don't make me hurt you." "Aaron, you can't hurt me or you'd hurt yourself." "…Damn it stop smart mouthing me!!!" "Oooh, you're swearing…" "Will you be quiet, MOTHER?" "How dare you address me as one of the opposite sex! I shall get my revenge, you human-minded fool!!!" "Ok, ok, ok! Guys, calm down, calm down…" Violet grumbled. "My head hurts now." Ash mumbled something or other under his breath as he forcefully retracted the headgear. I sighed in exasperation. All this time, the storm still thundered and plagued, the fire of our previous home still flaring and shrinking with wind and precipitation. Ash folded his arms, looking unusually pensive. Violet soon was back on her feet, and my sisters began to wonder where we could go now. Ash just stared out across the land towards a vast plot of thick forest. I wondered what he could be so absorbed in looking at… I snapped back alert. "Misty! Are you listening? We're going to use a cave a little farther west of here… sound good?" I nodded. "Ok, yeah. We'll do th-…" Ash cut me off. "He's here…" I looked at him. "What?" Ash's eyes were still fixed on the massive spread of the dark, thick forest. "He's here." Ash repeated, his eyes fading from the aqua blue shade to silver. I backed up a little. Something in me… something in me was scared of him now… what he was capable of…  
  
I saw him look at me out of the corner of his unnaturally colored eye. "Go where you have to. I don't need anyone interfering. Especially you and your sisters." I didn't move. I couldn't. The way he had said that… He kept that hollow gaze on me, but just for a moment his eyes melted back to their normal hazel brown coloration. "Just go… I'm serious. If Kage's back for more, I don't want you guys getting too close to the fight." "Fight?" I asked quietly. He slightly smiled. "I'll be more careful this time, okay? Now go…" …At least I knew he was himself…  
  
But the way he was acting lately, especially after his fight with Kendra… he was just… different.  
  
Daisy took me by the arm and led me off with my other two sisters. I gazed back at Ash for some time before walking away on my own. He'd BETTER be more careful… I thought sadly to myself, remembering clearly the condition that he had been in when we'd come back and found him…  
  
My sisters and I took position high up on a ledge overlooking the field where Ash stood, apparently still in solitude. Not long after, the storm suddenly cleared up even quicker than it had come on… but the sky was still deathly overcast, shadows covered every square inch of the ground. Silence prevailed over everything, and no wind or rain interceded it. "So you're back, like you said you would be…" Ash's voice broke the silence. A dark figure stepped out from the wooded portion of land not far from where Ash stood. The two of them gazed at each other for some time. "Yes. I intended on keeping my word, Aaron." The figure spoke. I was amazed. The voices seemed so similar… Ash's voice had changed after Dauphin had altered his outward appearance. It wasn't as high-pitched as it used to be. But the voice of this obscure figure was so much like his, only deeper in pitch… Violet nudged me. "That's Kage the Torrent isn't it?" I nodded. "It must be." Lily whimpered. Daisy watched intently, which I soon did also, curious to how powerful Ash's opponent was. Kage approached Ash, his own eyes glowing a most peculiar green. Ash's eyes returned to the unnatural silver. I felt a shudder race down my spine. Please be careful... I silently pleaded. Kage sneered. "You're more determined to defeat me now, aren't you?" Ash did not reply. "I know you're feeling rage. It's showing isn't it?" Kage glanced up and gazed at the sky. "You know this storm is here because of me. Your pathetic little 'shelter' is gone. I did that too." Ash glared. "Why did you do that?" The emerald green-eyed figure tilted his head a little, allowing the extremely faint light still radiating through the clouds to highlight his face. "Only because I live to do so." Ash wasn't quite content with that reply. He brandished the katana…the same weapon with which he had nearly killed me when Team Rocket had him under their thumb as merely a puppet to kill and destroy people and things with. The sword radiated with a bright yellow aura that sent numerous sparks flying from the highly reflective silver metal. Kage smirked again. "So you really want to fight me, do you?" Ash, as before, gave no reply. Kage stared dead straight at Ash, a dim aura of aqua blue light radiating off his body. I didn't feel quite so sure about this… Kage let out a cry and suddenly fired a huge blazing beam of blue light at Ash. My breath caught halfway up my throat as the massive attack surged toward my friend. Ash swung the sword, and the energy was deflected back at Kage. The reflected blow knocked the enemy opponent back. Ash grinned, deriding at the fallen foe. "I would have thought you'd be too smart for that move this time around." Kage stood, and his eyes suddenly glared not a bright green, but a deep red that was so near to black that without the lava-orange glow radiating from the irises, you couldn't have guessed what color his eyes really were. I noted a slight expression of anxiety on Ash's face as he again readied his weapon, the metal shimmering with an unusual shade of light amethyst. Kage also charged up, his body radiating with a bright white light. The two combatants charged towards one another and unleashed their assaults. A blinding burst of light blue light was the result as energy waves tore across the open field and ultimately wiped out nearby plants, rocks, and terrain into nothing but complete barrenness. A rush of wind was all that was left by the time it hit us, causing only a position flinch of my sisters and I. The two opponents backed off from each other, apparently unfazed from the substantial attack's explosive result. Ash re- charged his katana, and this time it glowed a bright silver color, illuminating the entire battleground. Kage seemed slightly taken aback by the sheer radiance of it, and was temporarily stunned. Ash leaped up and sliced down with the weapon, and Kage let out a cry of surprise and anguish. Flipping backwards, Ash took his position where he had left off before his attack on the enemy. Kage shook it off, his shoulder and part of his arm showing signs of extensive injury. "It seems you've improved a great deal…" Kage said through clenched teeth. "But you're not going to win by hopping around like some rabid kangaroo on steroids." This seemed to completely provoke both Ash and Dauphin to quite a large extent. "Well, then…" The robotically enhanced trainer said with a smirk. "Would you rather I fly?" With that, to my shock, two razor-sharp blades about 2 ½ to 3 inches wide ejected through the back of his shirt right near the shoulder blade. The two metal extensions lengthened to roughly two and a half to three feet long, then slanted down another abrupt 4-4 1/2 feet, creating two metallic arches connected to his back. A loud whirring signaled the deployment of countless metal blades that spread across the width of the open arcs, and then partly fused together to form solid, sturdy metal wings. Ash spread the newly acquired attachments to full length, (5 ½ - 6 feet) and leaped into the air, hovering above where he once stood. Kage gave a sardonic single laugh through his teeth, grinning like he had some sudden trick up his sleeve.  
  
"Not bad. Not bad at all. I see you've been upgraded then. That's the only way you could have attained those accessories…" Ash gazed unwelcomingly down at Kage. "So it seems you have contacts with Team Rocket?" He asked of the mysterious enemy. Kage shook his head. "Not at all. In fact, I rather despise the Rockets for the things they so selfishly attempt in order to gain something all for themselves… I merely hacked into their systems via computer and did an extensive study on their newest creations and developments. Their plan for the most powerful android ever to exist was quite tempting to a powerful mortal like myself." "So you want to take a whack at destroying that creation and being happy with knowing you've fatally wounded their plans to rule over the world?" "You catch on very quickly, Aaron." "Thank you." At this, Kage charged up and fired a huge blade-like wave of energy at Ash. He didn't have enough time to respond to the sudden attack- he was slammed upwards into the air, and then shortly after the energy sent him tearing down through the air and crashing mercilessly into the ground, leaving a massive crater. I tried to cry out, but Violet covered my mouth. "Be quiet… if Kage finds out we're here, he could end up killing us instead!" I let out a whimper as I watched the scene unfolding below. Kage approached the newly formed crater and peered down through the thick unsettled dust cloud. He let out a cry as he was slammed by a blur of silver and gray that knocked him back roughly 45 feet. Ash landed, wings still fully deployed, and himself in excellent condition. His katana surged with a deep red light mixed with hints of golden yellow. I could feel heat from that sword all the way from up here. The two of them instantly began an intense fight of tearing and slamming each other back and forth across the battleground. A blinding flare of the red and golden light caused such immense heat that I felt like I was roasting in an oven. Any sort of plant life still in the area crinkled up, singed terribly from the fire energy attack. Kage fell back, breathing hard. Ash was entirely unfazed. His eyes glowed the deep silver color, and soon the sword radiated a strange, unearthly color… pure black light… it glowed with the fainted hint of silver purple on the edge of the light radiated, but it was black light. Literally black light. The headgear still deployed from the beginning of the battle, Dauphin spoke up. "A shadow of the things to come has coated you with hate. A shadow of the things to come with leave you in debate… a found soul still lost." I didn't understand that little rhyme, nor did Ash seem to fully comprehend it, but he in turn, slashed Kage across the chest with the glowing-black katana. Kage let out an agonized scream of absolute anguish. The black and silver light formed a sparking vortex around him. Ash began spinning the sword faster and faster, the vortex growing stronger and stronger. "See you later, Mr. Torrent." He chuckled as he sharply brought the glowing blade down in front of Kage and fired, sending him into the vortex, which spun him around violently and then sent him tearing away into the sky like an uncontrolled slingshot.  
  
Kage vanished far over the horizon, countless miles away. Ash sheathed the sword and turned to look up towards the cliff on which we watched. His eyes were a reflective golden brown color now. "Hey! You can come down now! He's gone!" We hesitated, but soon my sisters all stood and scampered down the slope to the lower plain of ground. I felt too scared to move. That wasn't the Ash I'd traveled with so long… That Ash was too… too…there wasn't a word for it…  
  
He just wasn't himself anymore… he was a walking talking salad shooter with enough strength to walk through fire unharmed… to shoot off energy attacks strong enough to destroy hugely vast areas of land… strong enough to do anything he wanted with mankind, be it torment or death…  
  
I couldn't budge from my spot. Tears broke free and streamed uncontrolled down my face. It was like Ash was dead. As if it was only his body and not his soul standing there, gazing up at me. I couldn't take it anymore. My body collapsed as I fell into a severe fit of sobs and wails. My sisters soon came up to me and tried their best to once again calm me. None of their soothing words or pats on the back did anything to make me feel better. The feeling of deepest loss strangled my soul. I was in a horribly brutal state of mind. He's gone… I silently sobbed. He's not coming back… he's gone!!! A few muted voices. "Wh-…where's he going?" "I dunno…" I managed to open my moisture-coated eyes. Through a blur of tears, I saw Ash…he was slowly and staggeringly making his way towards the woods. "I think…" The voices blurred again. What was wrong with him? You hurt his feelings… I whispered to myself. I sat up, wiping excess salt water from my eyes and cheeks. I felt guilt. I'd acted so harshly to him by trying to shut him out these past few days… Now…now he must have felt depressed and put down… so alone… I sobbed again. How could I have been so selfish? I was stung violently by guilt and hatred. I weakly stood, still softly crying. "You ok, Misty?" one of my sisters asked. "…no…" I choked. "I'm not…" I advanced, my leg extending over the cliff's edge. "Misty, NO!!!" I fell forwards, gravity doing what it does best… Everything blurred again as I felt my body go numb from the feeling of falling to the ground. I didn't scream… I didn't try to save myself…  
  
I just didn't care.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 18  
  
*Ash*  
  
I heard Daisy scream. I spun around. Misty had stepped off of the cliff and was pummeling towards the ground below. I swore and began running as fast as I could. It was automatic…like a reflex. To run…to run and try to save her. Why, I wasn't sure. Her eyes were closed, and her body seemed limp. She was nearing the ground. I picked up speed, straining every muscle to accelerate. I stretched my wings and dove forwards, barely reaching her in time before she met with the ground in a rendezvous of suicide. I flipped over and slammed back first into the wall, not being able to stop due to the speed I had built up. I cringed and landed stiffly on the ground, Misty still in my arms. She struggled some, tears still pouring from her eyes. She stopped as I lifted her into a kneeling position and tried to calm her myself. She finally opened her drenched celadon-shade eyes, staring up at me. I looked back at her, feeling the urge to cry, if only I'd had actual tear ducts. I clenched my teeth, trying not to let a sob rise up through my throat. "What-... what were you thinking?!" I choked out, gazing at her. She shook her head and kept crying. "I'm sorry!" She barely managed. "I'm …s-so sorry!!" With this she buried her face in my shirt and began fitfully wailing again. I was taken aback. "Sorry for what?" I whispered to her. "Sorry…sorry for hating you…because of…what you…are…" She heaved pitifully, bawling and weeping heavily. I felt a jolt of agony tear through me. I'd thought only people who didn't know me were this afraid of me…hated me… But then, Misty knew me really well… the way I was now was so different from what I'd been before this… I could see why she was so upset… She pulled back and looked at me again. "I…I know you can't help it…" She wiped her cheek. "It's ok…" I said quietly. She shook her head. "It can't be all right…it can't be-…" She fell silent as I gently pulled her close and hugged her. "I'm not worried about that…" I said almost inaudibly. Misty laid her head back against my chest and closed her eyes. "You aren't mad at me…?" She mutedly whispered. "Why would I be? You have reason to hate me. I'm not human; I was created like this to fight for your worst enemies… What more could you despise from someone?" I said under my breath so that she and I were the only two who could hear it. "I don't want to hate you…" She whimpered. I managed a slight smile. "Aw, come on. All you have to do is get used to my new and even more annoying self. That can't be too hard can it? And hey, you never know; maybe I'll be human again someday…" She once again looked up at me. "You think that's possible?" "Could be." I replied, smiling broader. Mist' grinned and hugged me again. "Thank you… Thank you so much…" I hugged back. "Any time. Now let's go see what your sisters are up to. Knowing them-…" "ASH and MISTY! Sitting in a TREE! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" We both glared up at the three taunting siblings. "WE'RE STILL JUST FRIENDS!!!" Our unison voice hollered up at them. Violet giggled. "I'm like, not so sure about that now…" More giggles and snickers ensued as Misty and I -both vexed from the teasing- went back up over to the trio of hysteric trainers. "Really though…" Lily gasped out between laughs. "You two make, like, a totally cute couple!" I felt my face get hot. "Enough, enough already!!!" Misty grumbled. Dauphin cut in as soon as I willingly deployed the headpiece. "…I was wondering when you'd start show-…" "DAUPHIN." I growled. Dauphin chuckled. "You'll thank me for letting your girlfriend know you like her someday." The three sisters burst out laughing again. Mist' let out a whine. "Dauphin, SHUT UP, DAMN IT!!!" I groaned. "Anyways…" Dauphin continued, ignoring me, "Where was this cave we were going to use as a shelter?" When Violet's unceasing laughter finally did come to an end, she said, "It's supposedly 10-15 miles westward of this place. If we leave now…" She gazed at the now clear skies. "…we should make it halfway before sundown." "Only halfway?" I asked. "Yeah… it's kinda… sorta… blocked by a ravine." "Hey, great. Anyone got something so they can fly over it?" I asked sardonically. Everyone turned their gaze on me. "Wh- …" It hit me. Now. How. Did. I. Forget. THAT? "Well ok, never mind that question…" I muttered, folding my wings together behind my back, my face burning. "It'll still take us a while to get there though." Violet sighed. "So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Lily said eagerly. "Right on." Daisy agreed. After this, I retracted my wings and then we headed for our new cavern home, which I hoped, would turn out better than the last three abodes…  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 19  
  
*Ash*  
  
The weather was quite favorable at this point in time, and our walk was a quiet and peaceful one. From where we were descending from the height of a small mount, I could see the jagged line of a ravine so very far away. Something inside me, and I'm not referring to Dauphin, mind you, was becoming quite an annoyance by nagging me about something. The way it was so quiet. It wasn't dead silent like it had been in Kendra's presence… No, this silence had faint hints of far away bird songs and muted whirrs of slow moving winds. Still, something was imminent, and I couldn't be sure whether it was good or bad. Our calm stroll continued on for some time before the strange empty feeling hit its climax. I couldn't keep walking. I halted where I stood and listened. Breathing. Breathing besides that of my own and that of my comrades. It was coming from bushes that ran parallel to the path. The others soon noted my absence and came back partway. It hit me then. "GO BACK!!!" I yelped. "What?" Lily inquired before the ground suddenly broke open underneath their feet and swallowed them up into an artificially crafted pit. "I SAID," I muttered, "'GO BACK', but did YOU listen? Nooooo…" Muttering and yowls of dull pain were heard from the gaping hole in the ground. A trap set in the middle of a road. It was a typical booby trap of none other than the infamous Team Rocket. Just not the Team Rocket I was expecting. "Prepare for trouble…" A monotone, bored female voice grumbled. "Make that double…" A male voice of the same dulled accent added. "Aww, screw the motto." A third perky little voice growled. "What do you guys want?" I sighed, gazing at the three Rocket members that had walked over to the trap, not taking notice of the fact I wasn't in there. They spun around and their faces went blank. "Who the heck are you?" James asked in confusion. "I'd ask you the same thing, but your boring pointless motto that has been reiterated over a billion times to me has clearly stated that…" I frowned. "You ought to know perfectly well who I am. You aided in my robotic alteration, did you not?" Jessie's, James', and Meowth's faces all went bleach-white. "Y-y-y…" The light beige cat Pokémon choked. "Yeah. Ash Ketchum a.k.a. Aaron Theos. Nice to meet you." Dauphin perked up through the headgear speaker. "It's not nice. It's downright rude…" "Shut up, you." I muttered. "Dauphin?" Jessie asked meekly. "Hi again!" He replied. "Why aren't you controlling the twerp?" James whimpered, cowering behind Jessie. "He reprogrammed me!" was Dauphin's sprightly little reply. "Wha-a-a-a-a-at?!" Jessie yelped. Meowth groaned. "I TOLD you we should have used stronger system barriers! That twerp broke through the ones we gave him and edited Dauphin's files!!!" I grinned nervously. "You know, I could swear you guys knew zilch about electronics…" "We were taught how to…" James whined. "Please don't hurt meeee…" I blinked. Ok, so now I had these few sane Rocket Members scared out of their sorry minds. Hmmm… "Just get Misty and her sisters out of the pit, ok?" I finally said with what seemed like a provoked tone of voice. "Yes 'sir!" They chanted in unison, then ran over to the pit and tossed down some rope. I grinned smugly. I could really get used to this. The quartet of sisters climbed out and gazed warily at the three petrified Rockets.  
  
"What do you guys want now?" Misty said, sounding a bit confused with the situation. "We…don't want to start…any trouble… at all…" Jessie stuttered. "Dat's right…" Meowth added shakily. James just hid behind Jessie, whimpering like a 4-year old kid who just saw a mutated crocodile in the toilet. I hid another smirk. "Yes, well…" I sighed, "Now that they know who we are…" I glanced at Misty. She blinked. "…I guess we're just gonna have to take them along on the trip with us." "WITH HIM?!?!?" James suddenly cried out. I laughed. "You guys really are freaked out, eh?" A few whimpers were the reply. "He's got a point…" Lily said in defeat. "We can't have you running off and telling the rest of the Rockets." Jessie frowned a little. "Actually…" Her expression faulted. "We kind of…sort of…" Meowth cut her off. "We got fired, dat's all dere is to it!" "…On account of disorderly behavior…" James quietly added. "What KIND of 'disorderly behavior'?" Violet asked in a caustic tone. Jessie gave her a glare. "What is that supposed to mean?" James cut in. Meowth sighed. "Humans can't do anything right…" He hopped up on Jessie's shoulder. "We was kicked offa' da team cuz we wasn't doin' enough to keep Boss happy. Plus, he seemed pretty mad about us letting you get outta control." "Ohh." Misty said to herself. "Plus, Boss took our Pokémon…" James said, pouting. "Weezing, Victreebel, Wobuffet…" Jessie sniffled. "I remember my Ekans when it was just a baby…" "And my Koffing…" The two of them suddenly embraced, sobbing pathetically, Meowth getting out of the way before getting smashed into a pancake. I sweat-dropped. The other four travelers also gawked blankly. "Ok, ok, calm down…" I muttered. "If you promise to just go along with what I tell you, and act at least DECENTLY, I'll take you guys along so you at least won't be pointlessly wandering around. All right?" The two ex-Rockets nodded, tears streaming down their faces. "Anything you say, sir!!!" I shook my head. "All right then, let's go!" Daisy spoke up. With that, we headed towards the cavern shelter, three new members of our small traversing group taking up the rear, beside me. "So, in addition to you getting fired, what else have you three been up to?" I asked, my metal wings now fully retracted and my hands resting in my jean pockets. "Well…as you can tell, not much… We haven't stolen any Pokémon, we haven't robbed any Pokémon centers or stores… we haven't hurt anyone… We've been under attack by the other Rockets constantly, and even that Karp… or…Kangaroo…eh, whatever his name is…" "Kage the Torrent?" I asked. "Yah! Dat's it!" Meowth responded. "Heh…he's been picking on you guys too?" James glanced at me. "Us too? You mean he's been bothering you as well?" "Uh huh," I answered, nodding. "Where you think all these damn bandages came from?" I inquired, pointing to my arm and head. "I didn't know you could be hurt…" Jessie said questioningly. "I'm not perfect…" I said sadly. "…Nobody is…" I heard Misty add under her breath. I didn't think anyone else heard it. "Damn… that's what we created you to be." Jessie growled. "As I said. Nothing is perfect, no one is perfect." For a while after, nothing was heard, except for the birds chirping and feet hitting the ground. Not long after, we reached the massive canyon by the time the sun had vanished below the horizon.  
  
Thanks to Team Rocket's useful supplies, we set up camp in two rather large tents. Jessie, James, and Meowth got one tent, while Misty and her three sisters got the second. I declined the shelter and resolved to keep watch outside both tents. I gazed up into the night sky. Thin wisps of clouds slowly cast themselves across the heavens, and the distant stars glistened and sparkled like particles of gold. I was taken into rapture by the mere simplicity…yet beauty of the panorama unfolding above me. The night air was crisp, and the wind was minimal. I sighed inaudibly and stood, and then ambled over to the cliff edge, a good thirty yards away or so. I gazed down into the ravine, a winding river so far below barely audible as it pounded mercilessly over numerous rocks and boulders of the stream pathway. I kept thinking back to that battle with Kendra… Kept feeling guilt… It was right –what I did- wasn't it? She'd have killed me if I hadn't fought and won… Killed Misty…  
  
But… I slightly cringed from a small wave of pain that stung my arm. But I shouldn't have killed her… maybe just stunned her… Just knocked her unconscious… Couldn't I have done that? I clenched my teeth, trying to keep a sob from escaping from its lair in my throat. "Aurora…" I whispered, still gazing down into the ravine. "Why…" Team Rocket's doing. It was their entire fault… their fault she had joined with them… their fault she had been turned against me… their fault she was turned into that dragon monster… I choked on another sob that rose in my throat. How was I any different? I wasn't human anymore… I'd been under outside control… I shook it off. How was I going to live with this guilt…?  
  
…The guilt of having killed my own sister?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER 20  
  
*Ash*  
  
  
  
The night passed slowly and my depression settled in with me mercilessly. I sat on the edge of the cliff, legs hanging over, as I leaned back on my elbows and gazed at the sky as it gradually clouded over with light gray clouds. I still couldn't entirely shake off the feeling I had now… It had been building up inside me since the day…since that moment I realized it was she… Aurora Borealis Ketchum… I continued to stare up into the sky as the wispy clouds grew into thick blankets of the smoky material. I could feel the muscles in my shoulders tensing as I felt more and more dismayed over the act of murder I had committed. Pulling my legs up from over the ledge, I tucked up and crossed my arms around my knees and closed my eyes. I'd never experienced so much pain before… it was nothing like the pain of being crushed under Kendra's forelimb… The burning pain of being caught in a massive gas explosion… No - This pain was even worse… so much worse…  
  
I couldn't take it anymore. I caved mentally in and fell on my side, sobbing and wailing in a muffled fashion, as I had my arms enfolded around my head, covering my face. Soon after, I could make out faint, muffled voices and toppling of tent supplies. "AACKK!" One of the Team Rocket members yelped. I managed to stand up just as the tent containing Misty and her sisters zippered open. "Ash, what's wrong?" Misty called over. I didn't want to tell her about this…not yet… I gazed at her for a short time, then back stepped, turned and ran along the edge of the canyon towards the forest. "Ash!!!" Misty called again, running a little before stopping and watching as I vanished into the pitch-black woods. I kept up pace for another 10 to 15 minutes before stopping to rest in a clearing. I fell on my knees and stared hard at the ground, wishing the tears would come so I could just cry… just let out the emotions I'd held within me so long… I let out another cascade of fierce sobs caught inside my throat. Why…Why?! I killed my own sister because she wasn't human anymore! I killed her because I'd thought there was no other option… but there had to have been! There must have been a way to evade destroying her… "You did what was right in the eyes of good, what was wrong in the eyes of evil…" A quiet voice spoke up from behind me. I stood and spun around. I froze up. "Y-…y…" I stuttered. She slightly shook her head. "No, I'm not dead… not really, anyways."  
  
Aurora smiled. "I was dead inside that horrible beast's body. I was unable to move…to think and to act… just the way you were when you were under Team Rocket's power." I felt lightheaded. "How…" "I am only here because I have uncompleted business which I must tend to." She explained. "What?" I asked, slightly confused. "I am here as your guardian angel, Ash." She whispered. I stifled another sob that ran up into my mouth. "Why…?" "Because you are in dire need of assistance, Ashy…" She smiled again. I tried not to let myself break down crying. The name she'd called me… I'd never wanted to be called that after Aurora had vanished not long after our 5th birthday together. It had always been her nickname for me…  
  
"Reminiscence is quite a wonderful thing isn't it? It can bring back the greatest of memories, and yet draw into one's heart the most stabbing pain ever experienced…" I managed a weak nod before I fell to my knees sobbing again. Aurora gracefully came over and knelt down beside me. "I know you have not told the others of my existence, or of my running away from home at such a young age…" She laid her hand upon my shoulder. "…But now you can introduce me to your friends. I can hide my wings and look like a normal human. No one would know…" I looked at her. I'd never noticed the wings… But now they were as clear as day. Two faded sky-blue feathered wings spread out from her upper back and ended slightly past halfway down the length of her legs. She leaned over and whispered to me. "Much time has passed since you ran away… a rain storm is also imminent. It would be wise to go back now…" I managed a nod and stood, noting Aurora's wings vanishing into thin air as I did so. We began to walk back towards where we came from. Aurora took my hand and pointed out a few turns where I would otherwise have been confused and become lost. Before long, the line of trees was viewable, and I could make out the bits and pieces of a campsite through the thin slits of the barely-spaced trees. Aurora released her hold on my hand and allowed me to run ahead, while she calmly kept pace behind me. Misty was the first to catch sight of me. "Ash!!!" She started towards me, but stopped short when Aurora emerged from the trees. I was worried about the look I saw on her face. It seemed blank and confused. "She knows not who I am…" Aurora spoke quietly to me. "She fears I am your lover." "What?" I coughed out. Aurora giggled slightly. I remembered that teasing laugh from my childhood… "Tell her I'm your sister, she'll be okay." I nodded, still baffled from Aurora's remark. "Hey!" I called, waving my arm somewhat. "Dude, like, where did you go!?" Violet huffed, looking exasperated. "You totally had Misty worried about you!" "I wasn't worried about him…" Misty spoke up, her voice tight. "What?" Lily inquired, bewildered. "But you were cr-" "I was NOT CRYING-…" Aurora noted the fact I wasn't cutting into the conversation and spoke for me. "Why are you fighting? It's perfectly normal for you to worry about my brother. He's very mischievous, you know." "Br-…other?" Jessie asked, blinking. "Yes. I am his sister, Aurora Borealis Ketchum. Nice to meet you all." She smiled and bowed. I sighed as I noticed the troubled look clear off of Mist's face. "Why didn't you tell us you had a sister, Ash?" Violet asked curiously. "Uh…" I grinned nervously. Misty's face clouded again. Yeah, it was beginning to sound like a pretty fake routine. "I was away on a Pokémon Journey…" Aurora said, rolling her eyes somewhat at me. I sighed and glanced up at the sky. Before I knew it, Misty was standing in front of me, giving me a hard glare. "What'd I do now?" I whined. "YOU ran off for no apparent reason and you come back with someone I've sure never seen before who calls herself your sister and you don't even have a clue where she's BEEN all these years!?" I bit my lip. OK, THIS wasn't going well. Aurora sighed. "I was hoping this would be a better turnout, but I guess we're just going to have to tell them the real thing, hm?" Misty nodded. "Yes, the truth would be appreciated." I glanced sideways at Aurora. I noticed a slight aura of dim blue light radiating from a charm on the front of her white cloak-gown. I took a deep breath and faced Misty, who looked downright annoyed with the misled thought that Aurora was my girlfriend. "She's my sister…" I started, trying not to let the fact the mere hate- force that glare of Misty's was crushing my concentration to tiny shards, "…but the reason I haven't seen her since… since I was only about five… Is… I-…" I stopped, my throat tight to the point my vocal cords felt like they would snap from the tension. "Is…ih…" the feeling of lightheadedness was taking over my mind. "Ash…" Aurora whispered, concerned. "Sh-…sh- …she's...d…d…" I clenched my teeth. I hated facing this… It was okay now, wasn't it? She was here as my guardian angel. I didn't need to be so upset about it… Team Rocket let out a yelp as Aurora's wings came into complete view, stretched out to full length. Misty's face went white as she glanced over to my sister. With Misty's gaze off of me, I fell to my knees sobbing, tears still refusing to come. How typical. A once-heartless android that can't physically cry. Misty knelt down and leaned close, tears welling up in her eyes. "Ash… I'm sorry… I didn't… I didn't know…" Aurora also knelt beside me and laid her hand on my back. "This is hard for him… he's been through so much…"  
  
Team Rocket, recovered from the scare, peered over curiously. I could make out whisperings amongst the trio as the surveyed the occurrence. "What is going ON with Dauphin? There's no way he can access emotions or anything! We programmed him to be a ruthless killer, right?" "Ya idiot! Didn'tcha hear the robot say the twerp reprogrammed him?  
  
"Hold on a minute… That means the twerp wasn't destroyed during the transfiguration process?!" "Duh." "*Bleep*"  
  
"Hey! No swearing, you'll ruin my hair!!!" Violet growled. "How da hell will swearin' affect yer hairdo?" "The hairspray screws up when I lean over to slap you in the face, like this!" A loud smack followed this comment. "Oww!!!" I peeked up at the scene unfolding in the background. James was lying, mangled, on the ground with a large red mark across his face. Lily was glaring down at him, and Meowth was cowering behind Jessie. I looked back at the ground, my mind in a torrent of emotions I'd held back for such a long time. I held my breath. Something else was there… I looked up again. The squabbling bunch of trainers and Ex-Rockets were distracting my thoughts. I did what any other sane-minded person would do. "SHUT UP FOR A MINUTE, WILL YOU?" I roared, glaring that the fighting group. They instantly fell silent, and I could tell I'd pretty well startled Misty and Aurora. The silence was even more revealing now… Aurora stood and looked around. Could she sense it too? "Kage…" I whispered. My sister spun around and gazed down at me, her eyes wide. "Who!?" I blinked. "Kage the Torrent… He's here again…" Misty let out a moan of aggravation. "K-K-Kage?" Meowth stuttered. "He's still around?" Aurora asked, her voice hushed. I nodded, confused. "How long HAS be been 'around', Aurora?" She frowned. "Before we were born, Ash…Exactly 2 years before we were born, he came along…" She shook her head slightly as Kage stepped down from a boulder where he had appeared. "Well, well, well. What an unexpected pleasure." He smirked, gazing unwelcomingly at Aurora and Team Rocket. I could feel my body tensing up for battle. "Kage, why won't you leave these people alone?! They did nothing to harm you." My sister spoke up, firmly standing beside me, wings folded back. "They did nothing to harm me. What an understatement! You and Ashy-boy over there made life hell for me, and so has Team Rocket! The lot of you are all thorns in my side, constantly underfoot to impede upon my plans." "What plans, Kage? You want to destroy humankind or something of that sort?" "What I plan to do with my life is not your concern." "It IS our concern! If it involves the death of friends and family, we have all the right in the world to know!" "It won't involve any death. Just suffering." Aurora fell silent at his remark. "You're not human…" She choked. "Kage, what's happened to you?!" He smirked. "Look over there at my rival, Aurora. See him? What is he to you: a walking, talking pile of scrap metal bound together by a human-like form? That is what the Rockets created him to be. Emotionless. Heartless. A killing machine enhanced for the destruction of all life forms on this earth." Kage gave another coy grin. "I am the same as he. However, I differ in many ways… I was created by another half of the Rockets. Team Rebel. Their plan for eternal suffering for mankind is my one desire. I will fulfill that task at all costs." "But you won't kill." I growled, clenching my fists. "You won't remove someone from their suffering because of what you were told to do!" "Exactly…but…" He tilted his head to the side and sneered. "I was told to leave humankind alive. Androids, on the other hand… are fair game." 


End file.
